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General  Editor 

LINDSAY  TODD   DAMON,  A.B. 
Professor  of  English  in  Brown  University 


ADDISON — The  Sir  Roger  De  Coterley  Papers — Abbott 35c 

ADDISON  AND  STEELE — Selections  from  The  Taller  aiid  The  Spec- 
tator— Abbott 35c 

£neid  of  Virgil — AllinsoN 40c 

BROWNING — Selected  Poems — Reynolds 40c 

BUNYAN — The  Pilgrim's  Progress — Latham 30c 

BURKE — Speech  on  ConcUicUion  loUh  America — Dennet 30c 

CARLYLE — Essay  on  Bums — AiTON 25c 

CHAUCER — Selections — Gbeenlaw , 40c 

COVTIHIDGE— The  Ancient  Manner}  ^      ,      ^, 

LOWELL-Vteton  of  Sir  Launfal      /  ^  '"I-'-Moodt 25c 

COOPER — The  Last  of  the  Mohicans — Lewis 40c 

COOPER — The  Spv — Damon 40c 

DANA — Two  Years  Before  the  Mast — Westcott 45c 

DEFOE — RoHnson  Crusoe — Hastings 40c 

DE  OUINCEY — Joan  of  Arc  and  Selections — Moodt 25c 

DE  QUINCEY — The  Flight  of  a  Tartar  Tribe — Fbenco 25c 

DICKENS — A  Christmas  Carol,  etc. — Beoadus 35c 

DICKENS — A  Tale  of  Two  Cities — Baldwin 45c 

DICKENS — David  Copperfleld — Baldwin 50c 

DRYDEN — Palamon  and  Arcite — Cook 25c 

EMERSON — Essays  and  Addresses — Hetdrick 35c 

English  Poems — from  Pope,  Gbat,  Goldsmith,  CoLCRrDQE,  Btbon, 

Macaulay,  Arnold  arid  others — Scudder 45c 

English  Popular  Ballads — Habt 40c 

Familiar  Letters — Gbeenlaw 40c 

FRANKLIN — Autobiography — Griffin 35c 

GASKELL  (Mrs.) — Cranford — Hancock 35c 

GEORGE  ELIOT — Silas  Mamer — Hancock 35c 

GEORGE  ELIOT— The  MiU  on  the  Floss — WARD 45c 

GOLDSMITH — The  Vicar  of  Watefleld — Morton 30c 

HAWTHORNE — T7>e  House  of  the  Seven  Gables — Herrick 40c 

HAWTHORNE — Twice-Told  Tales — Herrick  and  Bruere 45c 

HUGHES — Tom  Brovm's  School  Days — Db  Millb 40c 

IRVING — Ltfeof  Goldsmith — Krapp 40c 

IRVING — The  Stetch  Boot — Krapp 40c 

IRVING — Tal'S  of  a  Traveller — and  parts  of  2fTi«  Stetch  Boot — Krapp  45c 
LAMB — Essays  oj  .'^ia — Benedict 35c 


r 


©Ijp  2jak?  Sttgltali  (HimsxtB—tmtvmtb 

LONGFELLOW — Narratite  Poems — Powteix 40c 

LOWELL — Vision  of  Sir  Launfal — See  Coleridge. 

MACAULAY — Essays  on  Addison  and  J»kmson — Newcoheb 35c 

MACAULAY — Essays  on  Cllve  and  Hastimts — Newcomer 35c 

MACAULAY— OoM«m«A,  Frederic  TheOreai,  Madame D'Arblav — Xbw- 

COSCEB 35c 

MACAULAY — Essays  on  Milton  and  Addison — Xewcomek 35c 

MILTON — L'Attegro,  II  Penseroso,  Comus.  and  Lycidas — Neuson 30c 

MILTON — Paradise  Lost,  Books  I  and  II — Farlet 30c 

Old  Testament  Narratives — Rhodes 40c 

PALGRAVB — Golden  Treasury — Newcoheb 40c 

PARKMAN — rfte  Oregon  Trail — Macdonald 40c 

POE — Poems  and  Tales.  Selected — Nbtwcomeb 35c 

POPE — Homer's  Iliad.  Books  I.VI.  XXII.  XXTV — Cbesst  and  Moodt  25c 

RUSKIN — Sesame  and  LUies — Lnof 25c 

SCOTT — Ivanhoe — Simonds 45c 

SCOTT — Quenlin  Durward — SmoNDS 45c 

SCOTT — Lady  of  the  Late — Moodt 35c 

SCOTT — Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel — Moodt  and  Wiixabd 25c 

SCOTT — Marmion — Moodt'and  Willako 35c 

SHAKSPERE— r/ie  Neilson  EdUion—B61te6.  by  W.  A.  Neilbon.  each.  .30c 

As  You  Lite  It  Macbeth 

Hamlet  Mldsummer-NiahCs  Dream 

Henry  V  Romeo  and  Juliet 

Julius  Caesar  The  Tempest 

Twelfth  Night 

SHAKSPERE — MercTtaat  of  Venice — Lovett 30o 

SOUTHEY— itfe  of  ATeison— WestcotT 40c 

STEVENSON — Inland  Voyage  and  Travels  tvitA  a  D-mkey — Leonard.   35c 

STEVENSON — Kidnapped — Leonard 35c 

STEVENSON — Treasure  Island — Bboadus 30c 

TENNYSON — Selected  Poems — Retnolds , 4»c 

TENNYSON — The  Princess — Copeland 25c 

THACKERAY — Henry  Esmond — Phelps 5*c 

THACKEILAY — English  Humorists — Cunupfb  and  Watt 30c 

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Types  of  the  Short  Story — Hetdeick 40c 

Washington.  Webster,  Lincoln — DBINNEr 30c 

SCOTT,    FORESMAN   AND    COMPANY 

CHICAGO :  623  S.  Wabash  Ave.        NEW  YORK :  S  East  34th  Street 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/democracytodayamOOgausiala 


"l  urge  that  teachers  and  other  school  officers  increase 
materially  the  time  and  attention  devoted  to  instruc- 
tion bearing  directly  on  the  problems  of  community  and 
national  life. 

"Such  a  plea  is  in  no  way  foreign  to  the  spirit  of 
American  public  education,  or  to  existing  practices. 
Nor  is  it  a  plea  for  a  temporary  enlargement  of  the 
school  programme  appropriate  merely  to  the  period  of 
the  war.  It  is  a  plea  for  a  realization  in  public  educa- 
tion of  the  new  emphasis  which  the  war  has  given  to 
ihe  ideals  of  democracy  and  to  the  broader  conceptions 
of  national  life." 


DEMOCRACY   TODAY 


AN 


AMERICAN   INTERPRETATION 


EDITED  BY 

CHRISTIAN  GAUSS 

PRINXETON  UNIVERSITY 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


copyeight,  1917 
By  Scott,  Fobesman  and  Compant 


ROBERT  O.    LAW  COMPANY 

EDITION    BOOK    MANUFACTURERS 

CHICAGO,        U.       S         A 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction    7 

Lincoln — Gettysburg  Address 17 

Lowell — Democracy 19 

Cleveland — The  Message  of  Washington 49 

Roosevelt — Our  Responsibilities  as  a  Nation 59 

Wilson — The  Meaning  of  the  Declaration  op  Independ- 
ence     63 

Wilson — The  American  of  Foreign  Birth 75 

Wilson — America  First  81 

Wilson — The  School  of  Citizenship 90 

Wilson — Abraham  Lincoln 96 

Wilson — A  World  League  for  Peace 102 

Wilson — Message  to  Congress 113 

Wilson — Request  for  a  Grant  of  Povv^er 119 

Wilson — War  Message  126 

Wilson — Flag  Day  Address 141 

Wilson — Reply  to  the  Pope 151 

Lane — Why  We  Are  at  War 156 

Root — The  Duties  of  the  Citizen 163 

Wilson — What  Democracy  Means 182 

Wilson — Second  War  Message 194 

Wilson — Program  of  the  World's  Peace 209 

Appendix 

Lloyd  Georgb--The  Meaning  of  America  's  Entrance 
INTO  the  War 219 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 227 

Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes 247 

Index 303 


INTRODUCTION 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  volume  to  provide  certain 
important  documents  of  abiding  value  which  will  help 
students  in  secondary  schools  and  colleges  to  under- 
stand the  situation  in  which  the  country  finds  itself 
today,  and  which  will  serve  also  to  clarify  their 
ideas  on  the  purposes  and  significance  of  America. 

The  consciousness  of  any  fixed,  national  purpose 
has  never  been  strong  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
Americans.  Our  first  impulse  is  angrily  and  emphati- 
cally to  deny  this,  for  we  have  never  admitted  that 
we  were  lacking  in  anything,  even  in  ideals.  What 
other  nations  possessed  which  was  good,  we  too  wished 
to  have, — and  on  a  "bigger"  scale.  Yet  this  ^efi- 
ci^cy  in  our  national  psychology  has  forcibly 
impressed  foreigners.  To  them  we  are  only  too  often 
a  people  of  adventurers  with  no  set  goal,  at  best 
active  and  intrepid,  making  and  breaking  our  own 
ideals.  We  impressed  the  stranger  as  Hannibal 
impressed  the  Roman  historian.  To  us  there  is  nihil 
sancti,  nothing  sacred :  So  Kipling  found  us : 
We  shake  the  iron  hand  of  fate 
And  match  with  destiny  for  beers. 

Such  an  attitude  as  is  attributed  to  us  would  pretty 
surely  tend  to  make  us  overlook  or  minimize  one  main 

question  that  we,  like  all  nations,  must  face.  Of  this 
question  II.  G.  Wells  in  The  Future  of  America 
writes:    "The  problem  in  America,  save  in  its  scale 


8  Democracy    Today 

and  freedom,  is  no  different  from  the  problem  of  Great 
Britain,  of  Europe,  of  all  humanity;  it  is  one  chiefly 
moral  and  intellectual ;  it  is  to  rggolve  a  eonfusiw^ 
of  purposes,  traditions,  habits,  into  a  common,  ordered 
intention/' 

That  this  problem  should  have  received  so  little 
attention  in  America  at  large  is  due  not  to  any 
absence  of  great  leaders,  or  to  any  failure  on  the 
part  of  our  leaders  beginning  with  "Washington  to 
set  before  us  such  an  "ordered  intention."  It  has 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  been  feverishly 
engaged  in  other  problems;  the  exploitation  of  our 
natural  resources,  the  development  of  industry,  and 
the  attempt  to  assimilate  a  vast  immigrant  popula- 
tion. It  was  due  also  to  the  further  fact  that  living 
in  a  continent  with  no  powerful  or  aggressive  neigh- 
bors, we  felt  wrongly  that  we  could,  for  the  present 
at  least,  pursue  a  policy  of  isolation  unmolested.  We 
have  lived  in  a  provincialism  of  soul  of  which  we 
were  not  conscious  and  which  it  has  taken  a  world- 
catastrophe  to  shatter. 

Yet  around  one  fundamental  ideal  we  have  all  and 
always  rallied.     No  matter  from  what  part  of  the 
earth   we   or   our   forefathers   came,   America   is   a 
democracy.       Democracy     and     republicanism     are  i 
often  used  interchaiifreably.  though  the  latter  refers! 
rather  to  the  form  of  government  and  the  former'' 
to  its  spirit.     That  we  are  a  republic  is  one  of  the  / 
fortunate  accidents  of  history,   for  the  men  of   '76 
did  not  go  to  war  for  the   purpose   of  electing  a 
president  of  their  own,  but  because  they  refused  to 


Introduction  9 

be  governed  by  a  body  in  which  they  were  not  repre- 
sented. If  then,  the  War  of  Independence  was  not 
waged  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  repub- 
lic, it  was  wagxid  in  the  interest  of  democracy,  in  the 
interest  of  founding  a  government  which  on  the  one 
hand  should  be  responsible  to -the  people "" and  for 
which  on  the  other,  the  people  should  be  responsible, 
^ny  particular  state  is  merely  the  expression  of  an 
ideal  of  societyVnd  when  the  Revolution  had  ended 
and  the  time  had  come  to  shape  a  constitution,  it  was 
natural  that  our  forefathers  should  have  chosen  a 
republican  form^f  government,  in  which  not  only  are 
the  policies  to  be  pursued  formulated  b^'the  citizens 
through  their  representatives,  but  thft^-executives  of 
these  policies  are  also  named  by  them. 

In  modern  times  and  on  so  large  a  scale,  the  experi- 
ment was  new  and  we  have  the  distinction  of  having 
been  the  first  of  the  great  modern  republics.  The 
experiment,  and  such  it  was,  was  viewed  abroad  with 
interest  and  suspicion.  During  our  early  trials,  and 
they  were  many  and  serious,  few  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  believed  that  the  new  and  struggling  gov- 
ernment could  endure.  For  not  only  was  our  state  a 
new  departure,  but  the  way  of  life  of  the  colonists 
also;  and  the  structure  of  their  society  differed  in 
many  respects  from  that  of  the  great  European  pow- 
ers. We  had,  to  be  sure,  inherited  the  liberal  tradi- 
tions of  the  English  law  and  the  English  constitution, 
but  the  great  European  states  still  maintained  the 
social  order  known  as  feudal,  developed  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  based  upon  the  existence  and  official 


10  Democracy    Today 

reec^mtion  of  privileged  classes.  Of  such  a  class  and 
such  a  feudal  tradition  we  knew  nothing,  and  the 
ignorance  was  a  fortunate  one. 

If  the  little  republic  embarked  upon  an  uncharted 
sea,  it  did  so  under  the  most  favorable  conditions 

/"ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  A  people  of  pioneers, 
unhampered  by  constraining  traditions,  we  were 
threatened  by  no  fear  of  invasion  by  powerful  and 
aggressive  neighbors  and  we  had  been  given  as 
our  inheritance  what  was  to  become  the  richest  see- 

ytion  of  the  habitable  globe.     Our  past   could  not 
namper  us,  and  the  future  with  untold  wealth  and  an 
almost  unlimited  domain,  lay  before  us  "like  a  land 
of  dreams."     We  were  free  as  no  European  nation 
could  possibly  be  free  to  carry  out  in  relative  peace 
and  security  the  great  democratic  experiment.    Before 
the    world    our    rich    endowment    brought    with    it 
a    corresponding     responsibility     never     adequately 
recognized  by  the  mass  of  our  citizens.  [We  have  been 
justly  regarded  by  others  and  should  more  frequently 
and  seriously  regard  ourselves  as  the  initiators  of  and 
the  sponsors  for  the  democratic  ideajjgovemment  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  as  Lin- 
coln put  it  in  memorable  words.    It  was  such  a  state 
based  on  ideas  of  freedom  and  social  and  political 
equality  that  Washington  sought  to  found,  that  Lin- 
coln maintained  against  internal  division,  and  that 
President  Wilson  is  now  defending/against  unwar- 
ranted   foreign    interference    and_  the    unprovoked 
aggression  of  an  autocratic  power^  Our  democracyit 
today  is  for  the  first  time  in  history  called  upon  to(l 


Introduction  11 

Ijjustify  itself  and  to  defend  itself  against  autocracy. 

llThe  aim  of  democracy  is  the  liberty  and  welfare  of 
the  individual;  the  aim  of  autocracy  is  the  power  of 
the  rulers  and  the  state.  The  idea  of  conquest,  of 
forcing  an  alien  rule  upon  a  strange  people  is  foreign 
to  the  spirit  of  democracy.  It  is,  however,  of  the 
essence  of  autocratic  governments.  It  is  well,  there- 
fore, that  we  now  bethink  ourselves  and  take  counsel 
with  our  leaders. 


It  is  a  mistake  to  believe  that  democracy  as  we 
know  it  in  America  is  a  form  of  government  sanc- 
tioned by  classical  examples  reaching  back  to  remote 
antiquity  and  with  a  long  tradition  behind  it.  Those 
who  are  tempted  to  believe  otherwise  should  read 
carefully  a  passage  written  in  1901  by  no  less  an 
authority  than  Woodrow  Wilson. 

'*As  a  matter  of  fact  democracy  as  we  know  it  is  no 
older  than  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
doctrines  which  sustain  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
derive  any  support  at  all  from  the  practices  of  the. 
classical  states,  or  any  countenance  whatever  from  the 
principles  of  classical  statesmen  and  philosophers. 
The  citizens  who  constituted  the  people  of  the  ancient 
republics  were,  when  most  numerous,  a  mere  privi- 
leged class,  a  ruling  minority  of  the  population  taken 
as  a  whole.  Under  their  domination  slaves  abounded, 
and  citizenship  and  even  the  privileges  of  the  courts 
of  justice  were  reserved  for  men  of  a  particular  blood 
and  lineage.  It  never  entered  into  the  thought  of  any 
ancient  republican  to  conceive  of  all  men  as  equally 
entitled  to  take  part  in  any  government,  or  even  in 


12  Democracy    Today 

.the  control  of  any  government,  by  votes  cast  or  lots 
drawn.  Those  who  were  in  the  ranks  of  privileged 
citizenship  despised  those  who  were  not,  guarded  their 
ranks  very  jealously  against  intruders,  and  used  their 
power  as  a  right  singular  and  exclusive,  theirs,  not 
as  men,  but  as  Athenians  of  authentic  extraction,  as 
Romans  of  old  patrician  blood. 

"Modern  democracy  wears  a  very  different  aspect, 
and  rests  upon  principles  separated  by  the  whole 
heaven  from  those  of  the  Roman  or  Grecian  demo- 
crat. Its  theory  is  of  equal  rights  without  respect  of 
blood  or  breeding.  It  knows  nothing  of  a  citizenship 
won  by  privilege  or  inherited  through  lines  of  descent 
which  cannot  be  changed  or  broadened.  Its  thought 
is  of  a  society  without  castes  or  classes,  of  an  equality 
of  political  birthright  which  is  without  bound  or  lim- 
itation. Its  foundations  are  set  in  a  philosophy  that 
would  extend  to  all  mankind  an  equal  emancipation, 
make  citizens  of  all  men,  and  cut  away  everywhere 
exceptional  privilege.  'All  men  are  bom  free  and 
equal'  is  the  classical  sentence  of  its  creed,  and 
its  dream  is  always  of  a  state  in  which  no  man  shall 
have  mastery  over  another  without  his  willing  acqui- 
escence and  consent.  It  speaks  always  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  people,  and  the  rulers  as  the  peoples' 
servants. 

"Democracy  is  the  antithesis  of  all  government  by 
privilege.  It  excludes  all  hereditary  right  to  rule, 
whether  in  a  single  family  or  in  a  single  class  or  in 
any  combination  of  classes.  It  makes  the  general 
welfare  of  society  the  end  and  object  of  law,  and 
declares  that  no  class,  no  aristocratic  minority,  no 
single  group  of  men,  however  numerous,  however 
capable,  however  enlightened,  can  see  broadly  enough 
or  sufficiently  free  itself  from  bias  to  perceive  a 
nation's  needs  in  their  entirety  or  guide  its  destinies 


Introduction  13 

for  the  benefit  of  all.  The  consent  of  the  governed 
must  at  every  turn  check  and  determine  the  action  of 
those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws." 

Neither  is  our  democracy  the  first  and  primitive 
form  of  government  as  is  sometimes  supposed.  It  is  as 
a  matter  of  fact  the  latest  form  of  government, 
designed  to  give  the  individual  the  greatest  degree  of 
liberty  and  responsibility.  We  must  not  therefore 
regard  it  as  something  which  will  "run  itself"  or 
which  has  "always  been  so."  Indeed  men  of  great 
authority  like  the  English  political  historians,  Lecky 
and  Sir  Henry  Maine,  have  looked  upon  certain  recent 
popular  tendencies  with  grave  misgiving.  Maine 
admitted  that  the  great  tendency  of  recent  decades  has 
been  to  turn  power  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of 
the  people,  but  felt  that  the  movement  was  not  intelli- 
gent, that  the  people  did  not  know  why  they  desired 
this  power  or  what  they  would  do  once  they  had  it  in 
their  possession.  Lecky  felt  this  same  distrust.  The 
quest  for  power  in  our  democracy  has  only  too  often 
been  selfish.  If  the  people  wish  to  exercise  the  great 
prerogatives  of  government,  they  must  also  assume  the 
equally  serious  responsibility  of  molding  "our  confu- 
sion of  purposes,  traditions,  habits,  into  a  common 
ordered  tradition." 

The  American  people  have  come  to  us  from  every 
continent,  they  are  of  different  races  and  diverging 
national  traditions.  They  can  only  be  united  and 
welded  into  a  truly  great  nation  if  we  make  these 
divergent  traditions  converge  upon  a  definite  and 
identical  future.     Though  it  must  be  a  long  task,  it 


14  Democracy    Today 

will  be  the  easier  because  from  whatever  lands 
Americans  have  come  and  with  whatever  antecedent 
customs  and  habits  of  mind,  they  have  come  in  the 
expectation  of  finding  a  land  of  freedom.  Difficult  as 
it  may  seem,  it  should  not  therefore  be  impossible  to 
polarize  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  earnest  men  of 
many  races  and  nations  upon  this  central  and  uni- 
fying vision.  In  order  to  bring  more  clearly  into  our 
consciousness  the  meaning  and  bearing  of  these  ideals, 
this  volume  was  planned.  It  aims  to  present  some  of 
the  most  important  pronouncements  by  recent  Amer- 
ican leaders  and  especially  by  President  Wilson, 
which  would  help  to  make  plain  whence  we  come  and 
whither  we  are  tending. 

These  expressions  of  democracy's  ideals  may  well 
claim  a  place  in  the  English  courses  of  our  schools 
and  colleges.  For,  in  the  words  of  the  statesman 
already  quoted:  "These  ideals  have  been  very  nobly 
expressed  by  some  of  the  greatest  thinkers  of  the 
race.  The  language  in  which  they  have  been  set  for 
the  thought  of  the  world  rings  keen  in  the  ear,  as 
with  a  music  of  peace  and  good-will,  and  yet  quick 
also  with  the  energy  of  fine  endeavor,  lifting  the 
thoughts  to  some  of  the  highest  conceptions  of  human 
progress. ' ' 

In  this  presentation  of  the  democratic  idea  as 
expounded  by  our  leaders,  it  has  been  thought  best  to 
begin  with  Lincoln's  famous  Gettysburg  Address  and 
to  follow  this  with  some  of  the  most  notable  pro- 
nouncements on  democracy  from  his  day  to  "Wilson's. 
Lowell's  Democracy   is   the   more   interesting   as    it 


Introduction  15 

shows  us  still  on  the  defensive;  and  with  its  annota- 
tions will  help  to  make  clearer  the  growth  of  the 
democratic  idea.  Beside  the  pronouncements  by  rep- 
resentative Americans,  the  address  by  Lloyd  George 
on  America's  entrance  into  the  war  is  reprinted  as 
particularly  significant.  It  was  no  part  of  the  writer 's 
intention  to  make  of  this  volume  a  war  book,  but  the 
issues  of  democracy  are  so  inevitably  involved  in  the 
present  conflict  that  the  war  and  the  developments 
which  led  to  it  could  not  be  ignored.  For  this  reason 
we  have  included  the  most  important  utterances  of 
President  Wilson  since  the  beginning  of  the  conflict ; 
and  the  War  Message  and  the  Flag  Day  Address  are 
printed  with  very  full  annotations  which  detail  the 
various  intrusions  of  Germany  upon  our  rights.  These 
notes  are  reproduced  from  the  editions  of  these 
speeches  published  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Infor- 
mation at  "Washington.  Though  in  some  cases  they 
have  been  abbreviated,  in  no  case  have  they  been 
changed.  The  notes  on  the  War  Message  were  pre- 
pared for  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  by 
Professor  William  Stearns  Davis  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota  aided  by  Professor  C.  D.  Allin  and  Dr. 
William  Anderson,  also  of  Minnesota;  and  those  on 
the  Flag  Day  Address,  by  Professors  Wallace  Note- 
stein,  Elmer  Stoll,  August  C.  Krey,  and  William 
Anderson  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  Pro- 
fessor Guernsey  Jones  of  the  University  of  Nebraska. 
The  editor  has  received  considerable  assistance 
from  his  friends  and  colleagues.  He  is  especially 
indebted  for  help  and  suggestions  to  Professor  Lind- 


16  Democracy    Today 

say  Todd  Damon  of  Brown  University,  General  Editor 
of  the  Lake  English  Classics,  and  to  Guy  Stanton 
Ford,  Director  of  the  Division  on  Civic  and  Educa- 
tional Co-operation  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Information  at  Washington. 


DEMOCRACY  TODAY 


GETTYSBURG   ADDRESS 
Abraham  Lincoln 

[delivered  NOVEMBER  19,   1863,  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OP 
THE    GETTYSBURG    NATIONAL    CEMETERY] 

Fourscore  and  S€ven  years  ago,  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great 
civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation — or  any  nation 
so  conceived  and  so  dedicated — can  long  endure. 

We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We 
are  met  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final 
resting-place  of  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that 
that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and 
proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  can- 
not consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The 
'  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have 
consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract. 
The  world  will  little  note  nor  long  remember,  what  we 
say  here  ;^  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here. 

It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here, 
to  the  unfinished  work  that  they  have  thus  far  so 
nobly  carried  on.    It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedi- 

17 


IS  Democracy    Today 

cated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us ;  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this  nation 
shall,  under  God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,^  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth- 


DEMOCRACY 

James  Russell  Lowell 

[inaugural  address  on  assuming  the  presidency 

of  the  birmingham  and  midland  institute, 

birmingham,  england,  october  6,  3884] 

He  must  be  a  born  leader  or  misleader  of  men,  or 
must  have  been  sent  into  the  world  unfurnished  with 
that  modulating  and  restraining  balance-wheel  which 
we  call  a  sense  of  humor,  who,  in  old  age,  has  as 
strong  confidence  in  his  opinions  and  in  the  necessity 
of  bringing  the  universe  into  conformity  with  them  as 
he  had  in  youth.  In  a  world  the  very  condition  of 
whose  being  is  that  it  should  be  in  perpetual  flux, 
where  all  seems  mirage,  and  the  one  abiding  thing  is 
the  effort  to  distinguish  realities  from  appearances, 
the  elderly  man  must  be  indeed  of  a  singularly  tough 
and  valid  fiber  who  is  certain  that  he  has  any  clarified 
residuum  of  experience,  any  assured  verdict  of  reflec- 
tion, that  deserves  to  be  called  an  opinion,  or  who, 
even  if  he  had,  feels  that  he  is  justified  in  holding 
mankind  by  the  button  while  he  is  expounding  it. 
And  in  a  world  of  daily — nay,  almost  hourly — jour- 
nalism, where  every  clever  man,  every  man  who  thinks 
himself  clever,  or  whom  anybody  else  thinks  clever, 
is  called  upon  to  deliver  his  judgment  point-blank 
and  at  the  word  of  command  on  every  conceivable 
subject  of  human  thought,  or,  on  what  sometimes 
seems  to  him  very  much  the  same  thing,  on  every 
inconceivable  display  of  human  want  of  thought,  there 

19 


20  Democracy    Today 

is  such  a  spendthrift  waste  of  all  those  commonplaces 
which  furnish  the  permitted  staple  of  public  discourse 
that  there  is  little,  chance  of  be^iling  a  new  tune  out 
of  the  one-stringed  instrument  on  which  we  have  been 
thrumming  so  long.  In  this  desperate  necessity  one 
is  often  tempted  to  think  that,  if  all  the  words  of 
the .  dictionary  were  tumbled  down  in  a  heap  and 
then  all  those  fortuitous  juxtapositions  and  combina- 
tions that  made  tolerable  sense  were  picked  out  and 
pieced  together,  we  might  find  among  them  some 
poignant  suggestions  towards  novelty  of  thought  or 
expression.  But,  alas!  it  is  only  the  great  poets  who 
seem  to  have  this  unsolicited  profusion  of  unexpected 
and  incalculable  phrase,  this  infinite  variety  of  topic. 
For  everybody  else  everything  has  been  said  before, 
and  said  over  again  after.  He  who  has  read  his 
Aristotle  will  be  apt  to  think  that  observation  has  on 
most  points  of  general  applicability  said  its  last  word, 
and  he  who  has  mounted  the  tower  of  Plato^  to  look 
abroad  from  it  will  never  hope  to  climb  another  with 
60  lofty  a  vantage  of  speculation.  Where  it  is  so 
simple  if  not  so  easy  a  thing  to  hold  one 's  peace,  why 
add  to  the  general  confusion  of  tongues?  There  is 
something  disheartening,  too,  in  being  expected  to 
fill  up  not  less  than  a  certain  measure  of  time,  as  if 
the  mind  were  an  hour-glass,  that  need  only  be  shaken 
and  set  on  one  end  or  the  other,  as  the  case  may  be, 
to  run  its  allotted  sixty  minutes  with  decorous  exacti- 
tude. I  recollect  being  once  told  by  the  late  eminent 
naturalist,  Agassiz,  that  when  he  was  to  deliver  his 
first  lecture  as  professor  (at  Ziirich,  I  believe)  he  had 


Democracy — Lowell  21 

grave  doubts  of  his  ability  to  occupy  the  prescribed 
three  quarters  of  an  hour.  He  was  speaking  without 
notes,  and  glancing  anxiously  from  time  to  time  at 
the  watch  that  lay  before  him  on  the  desk.  "When 
I  had  spoken  a  half  hour, "  he  said,  ' '  I  had  told  them 
everything  I  knew  in  the  world,  everything!  Then 
I  began  to  repeat  myself, ' '  he  added,  roguishly,  ' '  and 
I  have  done  nothing  else  ever  since."  Beneath  the 
humorous  exaggeration  of  the  story  I  seemed  to  see 
the  face  of  a  very  serious  and  improving  moral.  And 
yet  if  one  were  to  say  only  what  he  had  to  say  and 
then  stopped,  his  audience  would  feel  defrauded  of 
their  honest  measure.  Let  us  take  courage  by  the 
example  of  the  French,  whose  exportation  of  Bor- 
deaux wines  increases  as  the  area  of  their  land  in 
vineyards  is  diminished. 

To  me,  somewhat  hopelessly  revolving  these  things, 
the  undelayable  year  has  rolled  round,  and  I  find 
myself  called  upon  to  say  something  in  this  place, 
where  so  many  wiser  men  have  spoken  before  me. 
Precluded,  in  my  quality  of  national  guest,  by  motives 
of  taste  and  discretion,  from  dealing  with  any  ques- 
tion of  immediate  and  domestic  concern,  it  seemed  to 
me  wisest,  or  at  any  rate  most  prudent,  to  choose  a 
topic  of  comparatively  abstract  interest,  and  to  ask 
your  indulgence  for  a  few  somewhat  generalized 
remarks  on  a  matter  concerning  which  I  had  some 
experimental  knowledge,  derived  from  the  use  of  such 
eyes  and  ears  as  Nature  had  been  pleased  to  endow 
me  withal,  and  such  report  as  I  had  been  able  to  win 
from  them.     The  subject  which  most  readily  sug- 


22  Democracy    Today 

gested  itself  was  the  spirit  and  the  working  of  those 
conceptions  of  life  and  polity  which  are  lumped 
together,  whether  for  reproach  or  commendation, 
under  the  name  of  Democracy.  By  temperament  and 
education  of  a  conservative  turn,  I  saw  the  last  years 
of  that  quaint  Arcadia^  which  French  travelers  saw 
with  delighted  amazement  a  century  ago,  and  have 
watched  the  change  (to  me  a  sad  one)  from  an  agri- 
cultural to  a  proletary  population.  The  testimony 
of  Balaam  should  carry  some  conviction.  I  have 
grown  to  manhood  and  am  now  growing  old  with  the 
growth  of  this  system  of  government  in  my  native 
land,  have  watched  its  advances,  or  what  some  would 
call  its  encroachments,  gradual  and  irresistible  as 
those  of  a  glacier,  have  been  an  ear-witness  to  the 
forebodings  of  wise  and  good  and  timid  men,  and 
have  lived  to  see  those  forebodings  belied  by  the 
course  of  events,  which  is  apt  to  show  itself  humor- 
ously careless  of  the  reputation  of  prophets.  I 
recollect  hearing  a  sagacious  old  gentleman  say  in 
1840  that  the  doing  away  with  the  property  qualifica- 
tion for  suffrage  twenty  years  before  had  been  the 
ruin  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts;^  that  it  had  put 
public  credit  and  private  estate  alike  at  the  mercy  of 
demagogues.  I  lived  to  see  that  Commonwealth 
twenty  odd  years  later  pajdng  the  interest  on  her 
bonds  in  gold,  though  it  cost  her  sometimes  nearly 
three  for  one  to  keep  her  faith,  and  that  while  suffer- 
ing an  unparalleled  drain  of  men  and  treasure  in  help- 
ing to  sustain  the  unity  and  self-respect  of  the  nation.* 
If  universal  suffrage  has  worked  iU  in  our  larger 


Democracy — Lowell  23 

cities,  as  it  certainly  has,  this  has  been  mainly  because 
the  hands  that  wielded  it  were  untrained  to  its  use. 
There  the  election  of  a  majority  of  the  trustees  of 
the  public  money  is  controlled  by  the  most  ignorant 
and  vicious  of  a  population  which  has  come  to  us  from 
abroad,  wholly  unpracticed  in  self-government  and 
incapable  of  assimilation  by  American  habits  and 
methods.  But  the  finances  of  our  towns,  where  the 
native  tradition  is  still  dominant  and  whose  affairs 
are  discussed  and  settled  in  a  public  assembly  of  the 
people,  have  been  in  general  honestly  and  prudently 
administered.  Even  in  manufacturing  towns,  where 
a  majority  of  the  voters  live  by  their  daily  wages, 
it  is  not  so  often  the  recklessness  as  the  moderation 
of  public  expenditure  that  surprises  an  old-fashioned 
observer.  ' '  The  beggar  is  in  the  saddle  at  last, ' '  cries 
Proverbial  Wisdom.  *  'Why,  in  the  name  of  all  former 
experience,  doesn't  he  ride  to  the  Devil?"  Because 
in  the  very  act  of  mounting  he  ceased  to  be  a  beggar 
and  became  part  owner  of  the  piece  of  property  he 
bestrides.  The  last  thing  we  need  be  anxious  about 
is  property.  It*always  has  friends  or  the  means  of 
making  them.  If  riches  have  wings  to  fly  away  from 
their  owner,  they  have  wings  also  to  escape  danger. 
I  hear  America  sometimes  playfully  accused  of 
sending  you  all  your  storms,  and  am  in  the  habit  of 
parrying  the  charge  by  alleging  that  we  are  enabled 
to  do  this  because,  in  virtue  of  our  protective  system, 
we  can  afford  to  make  better  bad  weather  than  any- 
body else.  And  what  wiser  use  could  we  make  of  it 
than  to  export  it  in  return  for  the  paupers  which 


24  Democrdctj    Today 

some  European  countries  are  good  enough  to  send 
over  to  us  who  have  not  attained  to  the  same  skill  in 
the  manufacture  of  them?  But  bad  weather  is  not 
the  worst  thing  that  is  laid  at  our  door.  A  French 
gentleman,  not  long  ago,  forgetting  Burke 's^  monition 
of  how  unwise  it  is  to  draw  an  indictment  against  a 
whole  people,  has  charged  us  with  the  responsibility 
of  whatever  he  finds  disagreeable  in  the  morals  or 
manners  of  his  countrymen.  If  M.  Zola^  or  some  other 
competent  witness  would  only  go  into  the  box  and  tell 
us  what  those  morals  and  manners  were  before  our 
example  corrupted  them!  But  I  confess  that  I  find 
little  to  interest  and  less  to  edify  me  in  these  interna- 
tional bandyings  of  ' '  You  're  another. ' ' 

I  shall  address  myself  to  a  single  point  only  in  the 
long  list  of  offenses  of  which  we  are  more  or  less 
gravely  accused,  because  that  really  includes  all  the 
rest.  It  is  that  we  are  infecting  the  Old  World  with 
what  seems  to  be  thought  the  entirely  new  disease 
of  Democracy.'''  It  is  generally  people  who  are  in 
what  are  called  easy  circumstances  who  can  afford  the 
leisure  to  treat  themselves  to  a  handsome  complaint, 
and  these  experience  an  immediate  alleviation  when 
once  they  have  found  a  sonorous  Greek  name  to  abuse 
it  by.  There  is  something  consolatory  also,  something 
flattering  to  their  sense  of  personal  dignity,  and  to  that 
conceit  of  singularity  which  is  the  natural  recoil  from 
our  uneasy  consciousness  of  being  commonplace,  in 
thinking  ourselves  victims  of  a  malady  by  which  no 
one  had  ever  suffered  before.  Accordingly  they  find  it 
simpler  to  class  under  one  comprehensive  heading 


Democracy — Lowell  25 

whatever  they  find  offensive  to  their  nerves,  their 
tastes  their  interests,  or  what  they  suppose  to  be 
their  opinions,  and  christen  it  Democracy,  much  as 
physicians  label  every  obscure  disease  gout,  or  as 
cross-grained  fellows  lay  their  ill-temper  to  the 
weather.  But  is  it  really  a  new  ailment,  and,  if  it  be, 
is  America  answerable  for  it?  Even  if  she  were, 
would  it  account  for  the  phylloxera,^  and  hoof-and- 
mouth  disease,  and  bad  harvests,  and  bad  English, 
and  the  German  bands,  and  the  Boers,^*  and  all  the 
other  discomforts  with  which  these  later  days  have 
vexed  the  souls  of  them  that  go  in  chariots?  Yet  I 
have  seen  the  evil  example  of  Democracy  in  America 
cited  as  the  source  and  origin  of  things  quite  as 
heterogeneous  and  quite  as  little  connected  with  it  by 
any  sequence  of  cause  and  effect.  Surely  this  ferment 
is  nothing  new.  It  has  been  at  work  for  centuries,  and 
we  are  more  consci'us  of  it  only  because  in  this  age 
of  publicity,  where  the  newspapers  offer  a  rostrum 
to  whoever  has  a  grievance,  or  fancies  that  he  has, 
the  bubbles  and  scum  thrown  up  by  it  are  more 
noticeable  on  the  surface  than  in  those  dumb  ages 
when  there  was  a  cover  of  silence  and  suppression  on 
the  cauldron.  Bernardo  Navagero,^  speaking  of  the 
Provinces  of  Lower  Austria  in  1546,  tells  us  that 
"in  them  there  are  five  sorts  of  persons,  Clergy, 
Barons,  Nobles,  Burghers,  and  Peasants.  Of  these  last 
no  account  is  made,  because  they  have  no  voice  in  the 
Diet." 

Nor  was  it  among  the  people  that  subversive  or 
mistaken  doctrines  had  their  rise.    A  Father  of  the 


26  Democracy    Today 

Church^^  said  that  property  was  theft  many  centuries 
before  Proudhon^^  was  born.  Bourdaloue^^  reaffirmed 
it.      Montesquieu^^    was    the    inventor    of    national 
workshops,  and  of  the  theory  that  the  State  owed 
every  man  a  living.    Nay,  was  not  the  Church  herself 
the  first  organized  Democracy  ?^*    A  few  centuries  ago 
the  chief  end  of  man  was  to  keep  his  soul  alive,  and 
then  the  little  kernel  of  leaven  that  sets  the  gases  at 
work  was  religious,  and  produced  the  Reformation. 
Even  in  that,  far-sighted  persons  like  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  saw  the  germ  of  political  and  social  revolu- 
tion.^*   Now  that  the  chief  end  of  man  seems  to  have 
become  the  keeping  of  the  body  alive,  and  as  comfort- 
ably alive  as  possible,   the  leaven  also  has  become 
wholly  political  and  social.    But  there  had  also  been 
social  upheavals  before  the  Reformation  and  contem- 
poraneously with  it,  especially  among  men  of  Teu- 
tonic race.     The  Reformation  gave  outlet  and  direc- 
tion to  an  unrest  already  existing.     Formerly   the 
immense  majority  of  men — our  brothers — knew  only 
their  sufferings,  their  wants,  and  their  desires.    They 
are  beginning  now  to  know  their  opportunity  and 
their  power.    All  persons  who  see  deeper  than  their 
plates  are  rather  inclined  to  thank  God  for  it  than  to 
bewail  it,  for  the  sores  of  Lazarus  have  a  poison  in 
them  against  which  Dives  has  no  antidote.^^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  spectacle  of  a  great 
and  prosperous  Democracy  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  must  react  powerfully  on  the  aspirations  and 
political  theories  of  men  in  the  Old  World  who  do 
not  find  things  to  their  mind ;  but,  whether  for  good 


Democracy — Lowell  27 

or  evil,  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  acorn 
from  which  it  sprang  was  ripened  on  the  British  oak. 
Every  successive  swarm  that  has  gone  out  from  this 
officina  gentium^''  has,  when  left  to  its  own  instincts-^ 
may  I  not  call  them  hereditary  instincts? — assumed 
a  more  or  less  thoroughly  democratic  form.  This 
would  seem  to  show,  what  I  believe  to  be  the  fact, 
that  the  British  Constitution,  under  whatever  dis- 
guises of  prudence  or  decorum,  is  essentially  demo- 
cratic. England,  indeed,  may  be  called  a  monarchy 
with  democratic  tendencies,  the  United  States  a  democ- 
racy with  conservative  instincts.  People  are  continu- 
ally saying  that  America  is  in  the  air,  and  I  am  glad 
to  think  it  is,  since  this  means  only  that  a  clearer  con- 
ception of  human  claims  and  human  duties  is  begin- 
ning to  be  prevalent.  The  discontent  with  the  existing 
order  of  things,  however,  pervaded  the  atmosphere 
wherever  the  conditions  were  favorable,  long  before 
Columbus,  seeking  the  back  door  of  Asia,  found  him- 
self knocking  at  the  front  door  of  America.  I  say 
wherever  the  conditions  were  favorable,  for  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  germs  of  disease  do  not  stick  or  find  a 
prosperous  field  for  their  development  and  noxious 
activity  unless  where  the  simplest  sanitary  precautions 
have  been  neglected.  ' '  For  this  effect  defective  comes 
by  cause, ' '  as  Polonius  said  long  ago.^*  It  is  only  by 
instigation  of  the  wrongs  of  men  that  what  are  called 
the  Rights  of  Man^^  become  turbulent  and  dangerous. 
It  is  then  only  that  they  syllogize  unwelcome  truths. 
It  is  not  the  insurrections  of  ignorance  that  are  dan- 
gerous, but  the  revolts  of  intelligence : 


28  Democracy    Today 

The  wicked  and  the  weak  rebel  in  vain, 
Slaves  by  their  own  compulsion.* 

Had  the  governing  classes  in  France  during  the  last 
century  paid  as  much  heed  to  their  proper  business 
as  to  their  pleasures  or  manners,  the  guillotine  need 
never  have  severed  that  spinal  marrow  of  orderly  and 
secular  tradition  through  which  in  a  normally  consti- 
tuted state  the  brain  sympathizes  with  the  extremities 
and  sends  will  and  impulsion  thither.    It  is  only  when 
the  reasonable  and  practicable  are  denied  that  men 
demand  the  unreasonable   and   impracticable;   only 
when  the  possible  is  made  difficult  that  they  fancy  the 
impossible  to  be  easy.     Fairy  tales  are  made  out  of 
the  dreams  of  the  poor.    No ;  the  sentiment  which  lies 
at  the  root  of  democracy  is  nothing  new.    I  am  speak- 
ing always  of  a  sentiment,  a  spirit,  and  not  of  a  form 
of  government ;  for  this  was  but  the  outgrowth  of  the 
other  and  not  its  cause.    This  sentiment  is  merely  an 
expression  of  the  natural  wish  of  people  to  have  a 
hand,  if  need  be  a  controlling  hand,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs.    What  is  new  is  that  they 
are  more  and  more  gaining  that  control,  and  learning 
more  and  more  how  to  be  worthy  of  it.     What  we 
used  to  call  the  tendency  or  drift — what  we  are  being 
taught  to  call  more  wisely  the  evolution  of  things — 
has  for  some  time  been  setting  steadily  in  this  direc- 
tion.   There  is  no  good  in  arguing  with  the  ine\dtable. 
The  only  argument  available  with  an  east  wind  is  to 
put  on  your  overcoat.     And  in  this  case,  also,  the 
prudent  will  prepare  themselves  to  encounter  what 
they  cannot  prevent.     Some  people  advise  us  to  put 


Democracy — Lowell  29 

on  the  brakes,  as  if  the  movement  of  which  we  are 
conscious  were  that  of  a  railway  train  running  down 
an  incline.  But  a  metaphor  is  no  argument,  though 
it  be  sometimes  the  gunpowder  to  drive  one  home  and 
imbed  it  in  the  memory.  Our  disquiet  comes  of  what 
nurses  and  other  experienced  persons  call  growing- 
pains,  and  need  not  seriously  alarm  us.  They  are 
what  every  generation  before  us — certainly  every 
generation  since  the  invention  of  printing — has  gone 
through  with  more  or  less  good  fortune.  To  the  door 
of  every  generation  there  comes  a  knocking,  and 
unless  the  household,  like  the  Thane  of  Cawdor^i  and 
his  wife,  have  been  doing  some  deed  without  a  name, 
they  need  not  shudder.  It  turns  out  at  worst  to  be  a 
poor  relation  who  wishes  to  come  in  out  of  the  cold. 
The  porter  always  grumbles  and  is  slow  to  open. 
'  *  Who's  there,  in  the  name  of  Beelzebub  ? "  he  mutters. 
Not  a  change  for  the  better  in  our  human  housekeep- 
ing has  ever  taken  place  that  wise  and  good  men  have 
not  opposed  it, — have  not  prophesied  with  the  alder- 
man that  the  world  would  wake  up  to  find  its  throat 
cut  in  consequence  of  it.  The  world,  on  the  contrary, 
wakes  up,  rubs  its  eyes,  yawns,  stretches  itself,  and 
goes  about  its  business  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
Suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  abolition  of  slavery, 
trade  unions, — at  all  of  these  excellent  people  shook 
their  heads  despondingly,  and  murmured ' '  Ichabod. '  '^^ 
But  the  trade  unions  are  now  debating  instead  of 
conspiring,  and  we  all  read  their  discussions  with 
comfort  and  hope,  sure  that  they  are  learning  the 
business  of  citizenship  and  the  difficulties  of  practical 
legislation. 


30  Democracy    Today 

One  of  the  most  curious  of  these  frenzies  of  exclu- 
sion was  that  against  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews. 
All  share  in  the  government  of  the  world  was  denied 
for  centuries  to  perhaps  the  ablest,  certainly  the  most 
tenacious,  race  that  had  ever  lived  in  it — the  race  to 
whom  we  owed  our  religion  and  the  purest  spiritual 
stimulus  and  consolation  to  be  found  in  all  literature 
— a  race  in  which  ability  seems  as  natural  and  heredi- 
tary as  the  curve  of  their  noses,  and  whose  blood,  fur- 
tively mingling  with  the  bluest  bloods  in  Europe,  has 
quickened  them  with  its  own  indomitable  impulsion. 
We  drove  them  into  a  corner,  but  they  had  their 
revenge,  as  the  wronged  are  always  sure  to  have  it 
sooner  or  later.  They  made  their  corner  the  counter 
and  banking-house  of  the  world,  and  thence  they  rule 
it  and  us  with  their  ignobler  scepter  of  finance.  Your 
grandfathers  mobbed  Priestley^^  only  that  you  might 
set  up  his  statue  and  make  Birmingham  the  headquar- 
ters of  English  Unitarianism.  We  hear  it  said  some- 
times that  this  is  an  age  of  transition,  as  if  that  made 
matters  clearer;  but  can  any  one  point  us  to  an  age 
that  was  not?  If  he  could,  he  would  show  us  an  age 
of  stagnation.  The  question  for  us,  as  it  has  been  for 
all  before  us,  is  to  make  the  transition  gradual  and 
easy,  to  see  that  our  points  are  right  so  that  the  train 
may  not  come  to  grief.  For  we  should  remember  that 
nothing  is  more  natural  for  people  whose  education 
has  been  neglected  than  to  spell  evolution  with  an 
initial  "  r. "  A  great  man  struggling  with  the  storms 
of  fate  has  been  called  a  sublime  spectacle ;  but  surely 
a  great  man  wrestling  with  these  new  forces  that  have 


Democracy — Lowell  31 

come  into  the  world,  mastering  them  and  controlling 
them  to  beneficent  ends,  would  be  a  yet  sublimer. 
Here  is  not  a  danger,  and  if  there  were  it  would  be 
only  a  better  school  of  manhood,  a  nobler  scope  for  am- 
bition. I  have  hinted  that  what  people  are  afraid  of 
in  democracy  is  less  the  thing  itself  than  what  they 
conceive  to  be  its  necessary  adjuncts  and  consequences. 
It  is  supposed  to  reduce  all  mankind  to  a  dead  level  of 
tnediocrity  in  character  and  culture,  to  vulgarize  men 's 
conceptions  of  life,  and  therefore  their  code  of  morals, 
manners,  and  conduct — to  endanger  the  rights  of 
property  and  possession.^^  But  I  believe  that  the  real 
gravamen  of  the  charges  lies  in  the  habit  it  has  of 
making  itself  generally  disagreeable  by  asking  the 
Powers  that  Be  at  the  most  inconvenient  moment 
whether  they  are  the  powers  that  ought  to  be.  If 
the  powers  that  be  are  in  a  condition  to  give  a  sat- 
isfactory answer  to  this  inevitable  question,  they  need 
feel  in  no  way  discomfited  by  it. 

Few  people  take  the  trouble  of  trying  to  find  out 
what  democracy  really  is.  Yet  this  would  be  a  great 
help,  for  it  is  our  lawless  and  uncertain  thoughts,  it 
is  the  indefiniteness  of  our  impressions,  that  fill  dark- 
ness, whether  mental  or  physical,  with  specters  and 
hobgoblins.  Democracy  is  nothing  more  than  an 
experiment  in  government,  more  likely  to  succeed  in 
a  new  soil,  but  likely  to  be  tried  in  all  soils,  which 
must  stand  or  fall  on  its  own  merits  as  others  have 
done  before  it.  For  there  is  no  trick  of  perpetual 
motion  in  politics  any  more  than  m  mechanics.  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  defined  democracy  to  be  "the  govern- 


32  Democracy    Today 

ment  of  the  people  by  the  people  for  the  people." 
This  is  a  sufficiently  compact  statement  of  it  as  a 
political  arrangement,  Theodore  Parker^^  said  that 
' '  Democracy  meant  not  *  I  'm  as  good  as  you  are, '  but 
'You're  as  good  as  I  am.'  "  And  this  is  the  ethical 
conception  of  it,  necessary  as  a  complement  of  the 
other;  a  conception  which,  could  it  be  made  actual 
and  practical,  would  easily  solve  all  the  riddles  that 
the  old  sphinx  of  political  and  social  economy  who  sits 
by  the  roadside  has  been  proposing  to  mankind  from 
the  beginning,  and  which  mankind  have  shown  such  a 
singular  talent  for  answering  wrongly.  In  this  sense 
Christ  was  the  first  true  democrat  that  ever  breathed, 
as  the  old  dramatist  Dekker  said  he  was  the  first  true 
gentleman.^^  The  characters  may  be  easily  doubled, 
so  strong  is  the  likeness  between  them.  A  beautiful 
and  profound  parable  of  the  Persian  poet  Jellaladeen^''^ 
tells  us  that ' '  One  knocked  at  the  Beloved 's  door,  and 
a  voice  asked  from  within  'Who  is  there?'  and  he 
answered  'It  is  I.'  Then  the  voice  said,  'This  house 
will  not  hold  me  and  thee';  and  the  door  was  not 
opened.  Then  went  the  lover  into  the  desert  and 
fasted  and  prayed  in  solitude,  and  after  a  year  he 
returned  and  knocked  again  at  the  door;  and  again 
the  voice  asked  'Who  is  there?'  and  he  said  'It  is  thy- 
self ;  and  the  door  was  opened  to  him."  But  that  is 
idealism,  you  will  say,  and  this  is  an  only  too  prac- 
tical world.  I  grant  it;  but  I  am  one  of  those  who 
believe  that  the  real  will  never  find  an  irremovable 
basis  till  it  rests  on  the  ideal.^"*  It  used  to  be  thought 
that  a  democracy  was  possible  only  in  a  small  terri- 


Democracy — Lowell  33 

tory,^^  and  this  is  doubtless  true  of  a  democracy 
strictly  defined,  for  in  such  all  the  citizens  decide 
directly  upon  every  question  of  public  concern  in  a 
general  assembly.  An  example  still  survives  in  the 
tiny  Swiss  canton  of  Appenzell.  But  this  immediate 
intervention  of  the  people  in  their  own  affairs  is  not 
of  the  essence  of  democracy;  it  is  not  necessary,  nor 
indeed,  in  most  cases,  practicable.  Democracies  to 
which  Mr.  Lincoln's  definition  would  fairly  enough 
apply  have  existed,  and  now  exist,  in  which,  though 
the  supreme  authority  reside  in  the  people,  yet  they 
can  act  only  indirectly  on  the  national  policy.  This 
generation  has  seen  a  democracy  with  an  imperial 
figurehead,^**  and  in  all  that  have  ever  existed  the 
body  politic  has  never  embraced  all  the  inhabitants 
included  within  its  territory,  the  right  to  share  in 
the  direction  of  affairs  has  been  confined  to  citizens, 
and  citizenship  has  been  further  restricted  by  various 
limitations,  sometimes  of  property,  sometimes  of 
nativity,  and  always  of  age  and  sex. 

The  framers  of  the  American  Constitution  were 
far  from  wishing  or  intending  to  found  a  democracy 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,^^  though,  as  was  inev- 
itable, every  expansion  of  the  scheme  of  government 
they  elaborated  has  been  in  a  democratical  direction. 
But  this  has  been  generally  the  slow  result  of  growth, 
and  not  the  sudden  innovation  of  theory ;  in  fact,  they 
had  a  profound  disbelief  in  theory,  and  knew  better 
than  to  commit  the  folly  of  breaking  with  the  part. 
They  were  not  seduced  by  the  French  fallacy  that  a 
new  system  of  government  could  be  ordered  like  a 


34  Democracy    Today 

new  suit  of  elothes.^^  They  would  as  soon  have  thought 
of  ordering  a  new  suit  of  flesh  and  skin.  It  is  only 
on  the  roaring  loom  of  time  that  the  stuff  is  woven 
for  such  a  vesture  of  their  thought  and  experience 
as  they  were  meditating.  They  recognized  fully  the 
value  of  tradition  and  habit  as  the  great  allies  of 
permanence  and  stability.  They  all  had  that  distaste 
for  innovation  which  belonged  to  their  race,  and  many 
of  them  a  distrust  of  human  nature  derived  from 
their  creed.  The  day  of  sentiment  was  over,  and 
no  dithyrambic  affirmations  or  fine-drawn  analyses  of 
the  Rights  of  Man  would  serve  their  present  turn. 
This  was  a  practical  question,  and  they  addressed 
themselves  to  it  as  men  of  knowledge  and  judgment 
should.  Their  problem  was  how  to  adapt  English 
principles  and  precedents  to  the  new  conditions  of 
American  life,  and  they  solved  it  with  singular  discre- 
tion. They  put  as  many  obstacles  as  they  could  con- 
trive, not  in  the  way  of  the  people's  will,  but  of  their 
whim.  "With  few  exceptions  they  probably  admitted 
the  logic  of  the  then  accepted  syllogism, — democracy, 
anarchy,  despotism.^^  But  this  formula  was  framed 
upon  the  experience  of  small  cities  shut  up  to  stew 
within  their  narrow  walls  where  the  number  of  citi- 
zens made  but  an  inconsiderable  fraction  of  the  inhab- 
itants, where  every  passion  was  reverberated  from 
house  to  house  and  from  man  to  man  with  gathering 
rumor  till  every  impulse  became  gregarious  and  there- 
fore inconsiderate,  and  every  popular  assembly 
needed  but  an  infusion  of  eloquent  sophistry  to  turn 
it  into  a  mob,  all  the  more  dangerous  because  sancti- 
fied with  the  formality  of  law. 


Democracy — Lowell  35 

Fortunately  their  case  was  wholly  different.  They 
were  to  legislate  for  a  widely  scattered  population  and 
for  States  already  practiced  in  the  discipline  of  a  par- 
tial independence.  They  had  an  unequaled  oppor- 
tunity and  enormous  advantages.  The  material  they 
had  to  work  upon  was  already  democratical  by 
instinct  and  habitude.  It  was  tempered  to  their 
hands  by  more  than  a  century's  schooling  in  self- 
government.  They  had  but  to  give  permanent  and 
conservative  form  to  a  ductile  mass.^-  In  giving 
impulse  and  direction  to  their  new  institutions,  espe- 
cially in  supplying  them  with  checks  and  balances, 
they  had  a  great  help  and  safeguard  in  their  federal 
organization.  The  different,  sometimes  conflicting, 
interests  and  social  systems  of  the  several  States  made 
existence  as  a  Union  and  coalescence  into  a  nation  con- 
ditional on  a  constant  practice  of  moderation  and 
compromise.  The  very  elements  of  disintegration 
were  the  best  guides  in  political  training.  Their  chil- 
dren learned  the  lesson  of  compromise  only  too  well, 
and  it  was  the  application  of  it  to  a  question  of 
fundamental  morals  that  cost  us  our  civil  war.^^  We 
learned  once  for  all  that  compromise  makes  a  good 
umbrella  but  a  poor  roof;  that  it  is  a  temporary'' 
expedient,  often  wise  in  party  polities,  almost  sure  to 
be  unwise  in  statesmanship. 

Has  not  the  trial  of  democracy  in  America  proved,— 
on  the  whole,  successful?     If  it  had  not,  would  the 
Old  World  be  vexed  with  any  fears  of  its  proving  con- 
tagious ?    This  trial  would  have  been  less  severe  could 
it  have  been  made  with  a  people  homogeneous  in  race, 


36  Democracy    Today 

language,  and  traditions,  whereas  the  United  States 
have  been  called  on  to  absorb  and  assimilate  enormous 
masses  of  foreign  population  heterogeneous  in  all 
these  respects,  and  drawn  mainly  from  that  class  which 
might  fairly  say  that  the  world  was  not  their  friend, 
nor  the  world's  law.  The  previous  condition  too 
often  justified  the  traditional  Irishman,  who,  landing 
in  New  York  and  asked  what  his  politics  were, 
inquired  if  there  was  a  Government  there,  and  on 
being  told  that  there  was,  retorted,  "Thin  I'm  agin 
it!"  We  have  taken  from  Europe  the  poorest,  the 
most  ignorant,  the  most  turbulent  of  her  people,  and 
have  made  them  over  into  good  citizens,  who  have 
added  to  our  wealth,  and  who  are  ready  to  die  in 
defence  of  a  country  and  of  institutions  which  they 
know  to  be  worth  dying  for.  The  exceptions  have 
been  (and  they  are  lamentable  exceptions)  where 
these  hordes  of  ignorance  and  poverty  have  coagulated 
in  great  cities.  But  the  social  system  is  yet  to  seek 
which  has  not  to  look  the  same  terrible  wolf  in  the 
eyes.  On  the  other  hand,  at  this  very  moment  Irish 
peasants  are  buying  up  the  worn-out  farms  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  making  them  productive  again  by  the 
same  virtues  of  industry  and  thrift  that  once  made 
them  profitable  to  the  English  ancestors  of  the  men 
who  are  deserting  them.  To  have  achieved  even  these 
prosaic  results  (if  you  choose  to  call  them  so),  and 
that  out  of  materials  the  most  discordant, — I  might 
say  the  most  recalcitrant, — argues  a  certain  beneficent 
virtue  in  the  system  that  could  do  it,  and  is  not  to 
be  accounted  for  by  mere  luck.     Carlyle  said  scorn- 


Democracy — Lowell  37 

fully  that  America  meant  only  roast  turkey  every  day 
for  everybody.^^  He  forgot  that  States,  as  Bacon^^ 
said  of  ware,  go  on  their  bellies.  As  for  the  security 
of  property,  it  should  be  tolerably  well  secured  in  a 
country  where  every  other  man  hopes  to  be  rich,  even 
though  the  only  property  qualification  be  the  owner- 
ship of  two  hands  that  add  to  the  general  wealth. 
Is  it  not  the  best  security  for  anything  to  interest  the 
largest  possible  number  of  persons  in  its  preservation 
and  the  smallest  in  its  division?  In  point  of  fact, 
far-seeing^^  men  count  the  increasing  power  of  wealth 
and  its  combinations  as  one  of  the  chief  dangers  with 
which  the  institutions  of  the  United  States  are  threat- 
ened in  the  not  distant  future.  The  right  of  individ- 
ual property  is  no  doubt  the  very  corner-stone  of 
civilization  as  hitherto  understood,  but  I  am  a  little 
impatient  of  being  told  that  property  is  entitled  to 
exceptional  consideration  because  it  bears  all  the  bur- 
dens of  the  State.  It  bears  those,  indeed,  which  can 
most  easily  be  borne,  but  poverty  pays  with  its  person 
the  chief  expenses  of  war,  pestilence,  and  famine. 
Wealth  should  not  forget  this,  for  poverty  is  begin- 
ning to  think  of  it  now  and  then.  Let  me  not  be 
misunderstood.  1  see  as  clearly  as  any  man  possibly 
c'^n,  and  rate  as  highly,  the  value  of  wealth,  and  of 
hereditary  wealth,  as  the  security  of  refinement,  the 
feeder  of  all  those  arts  that  ennoble  and  beautify  life, 
and  as  making  a  country  worth  living  in.  Many  an 
ancestral  hall  here  in  England  has  been  a  nursery  of 
that  culture  which  has  been  of  example  and  benefit 
to  all.  Old  gold  has  a  civilizing  virtue  which  new 
gold  must  grow  old  to  be  capable  of  secreting. 


38  Democracy    Today 

I  should  not  think  of  coming  before  you  to  defend 
or  to  criticize  any  form  of  government.  All  have 
their  virtues,  all  their  defects,  and  all  have  illustrated 
one  period  or  another  in  the  history  of  the  race,  with 
signal  services  to  humanity  and  culture.  There  is  not 
one  that  could  stand  a  cynical  cross-examination  by 
an  experienced  criminal  lawyer,  except  that  of  a  per- 
fectly wise  and  perfectly  good  despot,  such  as  the 
world  has  never  seen,  except  in  that  white-haired  king 
of  Browning 's,  who 

Lived  long  ago 
In  the  morning  of  the  world, 
When  Earth  was  nearer  Heaven  than  now. " 

The  English  race,  if  they  did  not  invent  government 
by  discussion,  have  at  least  carried  it  nearest  to  per- 
fection in  practice.  It  seems  a  very  safe  and  reason- 
able contrivance  for  occupying  the  attention  of  the 
country,  and  is  certainly  a  better  way  of  settling 
questions  than  by  push  of  pike.  Yet,  if  one  should 
ask  it  whf  it  should  not  rather  be  called  government 
by  gabble,  it  would  have  to  fumble  in  its  pocket 
a  good  while  before  it  found  the  change  for  a  con- 
vincing reply.  As  matters  stand,  too,  it  is  beginning 
to  be  doubtful  whether  Parliament  and  Congress  sit 
at  Westminster  and  Washington  or  in  the  editors' 
rooms  of  the  leading  journals,  so  thoroughly  is  every- 
thing debated  before  the  authorized  and  responsible 
debaters  get  on  their  legs.  And  what  shall  we  say  of 
government  by  a  majority  of  voices?  To  a  person 
who  in  the  last  century  would  have  called  himself  an 
Impartial  Observer,  a  numerical  preponderance  seems, 


Democracy — Lowell  39 

on  the  whole,  as  clumsy  a  way  of  arriving  at  truth  as 
could  well  be  devised,^^  but  experience  has  apparently 
shown  it  to  be  a  convenient  arrangement  for  deter- 
mining what  may  be  expedient  or  advisable  or  prac- 
ticable at  any  given  moment.  Truth,  after  all,  wears 
a  different  face  to  everybody,  and  it  would  be  too 
tedious  to  wait  till  all  were  agreed.  She  is  said  to 
lie  at  the  bottom  of  a  well,  for  the  very  reason,  per- 
haps, that  whoever  looks  down  in  search  of  her  sees 
his  own  image  at  the  bottom,  and  is  persuaded  not 
only  that  he  has  seen  the  goddess,  but  that  she  is  far 
better  looking  than  he  had  imagined. 

The  arguments  against  universal  suffrage  are 
equally  unanswerable.  "What,"  we  exclaim,  "shall 
Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  have  as  much  weight  in  the 
scale  as  I  ? "  Of  course,  nothing  could  be  more  absurd. 
And  yet  universal  suffrage  has  not  been  the  instru- 
ment of  greater  unwisdom  than  contrivances  of  a 
more  select  description.  Assemblies  could  be  men- 
tioned composed  entirely  of  Masters  of  Arts  and  Doc- 
tors in  Divinity  which  have  sometimes  shown  traces 
of  human  passion  or  prejudice  in  their  votes.  Have 
the  Serene  Highnesses  and  Enlightened  Classes  car- 
ried on  the  business  of  Mankind  so  well,  then,  that 
there  is  no  use  in  trying  a  less  costly  method?  The 
democratic  theory  is  that  those  Constitutions  are  likely 
to  prove  steadiest  which  have  the  broadest  base,  that 
the  right  to  vote  makes  a  safety-valve  of  every  voter, 
and  that  the  best  way  of  teaching  a  man  how  to  vote 
is  to  give  him  the  chance  of  practice.  For  the  ques- 
tion is  no  longer  the  academic  one,  * '  Is  it  wise  to  give 


40  Democracy    Today 

every  man  the  ballot?"  but  rather  the  practical  one, 
"Is  it  prudent  to  deprive  whole  classes  of  it  any 
longer?"  It  may  be  conjectured  that  it  is  cheaper  in 
the  long  run  to  lift  men  up  than  to  hold  them  down, 
and  that  the  ballot  in  their  hands  is  less  dangerous 
to  society  than  a  sense  of  wrong  in  their  heads.  At 
any  rate  this  is  the  dilemma  to  which  the  drift  of 
opinion  has  been  for  some  time  sweeping  us,  and  in 
politics  a  dilemma  is  a  more  unmanageable  thing  to 
hold  by  the  horns  than  a  wolf  by  the  ears.  It  is  said 
that  the  right  of  suffrage  is  not  valued  when  it  is 
indiscriminately  bestowed,  and  there  may  be  some 
truth  in  this,  for  I  have  observed  that  what  men  prize 
most  is  a  privilege,  even  if  it  be  that  of  .".hief  mourner 
at  a  funeral.  But  is  there  not  danger  that  it  will  be 
valued  at  more  than  its  worth  if  denied,  and  that 
some  illegitimate  way  will  be  sought  to  make  up  for 
the  want  of  it?  Men  who  have  a  voice  in  public 
affairs  are  at  once  affiliated  with  one  or  other  of  the 
great  parties  between  which  society  is  divided,  merge 
their  individual  hopes  and  opinions  in  its  safer, 
because  more  generalized,  hopes  and  opinions,  are  dis- 
ciplined by  its  tactics,  and  acquire,  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  orderly  qualities  of  an  army.  They  no 
longer  belong  to  a  class,  but  to  a  body  corporate.  Of 
one  thing,  at  least,  we  may  be  certain,  that,  under 
whatever  method  of  helping  things  to  go  wrong  man's 
wit  can  contrive,  those  who  have  the  divine  right  to 
govern  will  be  found  to  govern,  in  the  end,  and  that 
the  highest  privilege  to  which  the  majority  of  man- 
kind can  aspire  is  that  of  being  governed  by  those 


Democracy — Lowell  41 

wiser  than  they.  Universal  suffrage  has  in  the  United 
States  sometimes  been  made  the  instrument  of  incon- 
siderate changes,  under  the  notion  of  reform,  and 
this  from  a  misconception  of  the  true  meaning  of 
popular  government.  One  of  these  has  been  the  sub- 
stitution in  many  of  the  states  of  popular  election  for 
official  selection  in  the  choice  of  judges.  The  same 
system  applied  to  military  officers  was  the  source  of 
much  evil  during  our  civil  war,  and,  I  believe,  had 
to  be  abandoned.^^  But  it  has  been  also  true  that  on 
all  great  questions  of  national  policy  a  reserve  of 
prudence  and  discretion  has  been  brought  out  at  the 
critical  moment  to  turn  the  scale  in  favor  of  a  wiser 
decision.  An  appeal  to  the  reason  of  the  people  has 
never  been  known  to  fail  in  the  long  run.  It  is, 
perhaps,  true  that,  by  effacing  the  principle  of  passive 
obedience,  democracy,  ill  understood,  has  slackened 
the  spring  of  that  ductility  to  discipline  which  is 
essential  to  "the  unity  and  married  calm  of  States." 
But  I  feel  assured  that  experience  and  necessity  will 
cure  this  evil,  as  they  have  shown  their  power  to  cure 
others.  And  under  what  frame  of  poJicy  have  evils 
ever  been  remedied  till  they  became  intolerable,  and 
shook  men  out  of  their  indolent  indifference  through 
their  fears? 

We  are  told  that  the  inevitable  result  of  democracy 
is  to  sap  the  foundations  of  personal  independence,  to 
weaken  the  principle  of  authority,  to  lessen  the 
respect  due  to  eminence,  whether  in  station,  virtue, 
or  genius.  If  these  things  were  so,  society  could  not 
hold  together.  Perhaps  the  best  forcing-house  of  robust 


42  Democracy    Today 

individuality  would  be  where  public  opinion  is  inclined 
to  be  most  overbearing,  as  he  must  be  of  heroic 
temper  who  should  walk  along  Piccadilly*^  at  the 
height  of  the  season  in  a  soft  hat.  As  for  authority, 
it  is  one  of  the  symptoms  of  the  time  that  the  religious 
reverence  for  it  is  declining  everywhere,  but  this  is 
due  partly  to  the  fact  that  statecraft  is  no  longer 
looked  upon  as  a  mystery,  but  as  a  business,  and 
partly  to  the  decay  of  superstition,  by  which  I  mean 
the  habit  of  respecting  what  we  are  told  to  respect 
rather  than  what  is  respectable  in  itself.  There  is 
more  rough  and  tumble  in  the  American  democracy 
than  is  altogether  agreeable  to  people  of  sensitive 
nerves  and  refined  habits,  and  the  people  take  their 
political  duties  lightly  and  laughingly,  as  is,  perhaps, 
neither  unnatural  nor  unbecoming  in  a  young  giant. 
Democracies  can  no  more  jump  away  from  their  own 
shadows  than  the  rest  of  us  can.  They  no  doubt 
sometimes  make  mistakes  and  pay  honor  to  men  who 
do  not  deserve  it.  But  they  do  this  because  they 
believe  them  worthy  of  it,  and  though  it  be  true  that 
the  idol  is  the  measure  of  the  worshipper,  yet  the 
worship  has  in  it  the  germ  of  a  nobler  religion.  But 
is  it  democracies  alone  that  fall  into  these  errors? 
I,  who  have  seen  it  proposed  to  erect  a  statue  to 
Hudson,*^  the  railway  king,  and  have  heard  Louis 
Napoleon*^  hailed  as  the  savior  of  society  by  men  who 
certainly  had  no  democratic  associations  or  leanings, 
am  not  ready  to  think  so.  But  democracies  have  like- 
wise their  finer  instincts.  I  have  also  seen  the  wisest 
statesman  and  most  pregnant  speaker  of  our  genera 


Democracy — Lowell  43 

tion,  a  man  of  humble  birth  and  ungainly  manners, 
of  little  culture  beyond  what  his  own  genius  supplied, 
become  more  absolute  in  power  than  any  monarch  of 
modern  times  through  the  reverence  of  his  country- 
men for  his  honesty,  his  wisdom,  his  sincerity,  his 
faith  in  God  and  man,  and  the  nobly  humane  sim- 
plicity of  his  character.  And  I  remember  another 
whom  popular  respect  enveloped  as  with  a  halo,  the 
least  vulgar  of  men,  the  most  austerely  genial,  and 
the  most  independent  of  opinion.  Wherever  he  went 
he  never  met  a  stranger,  but  everywhere  neighbors 
and  friends  proud  of  him  as  their  ornament  and 
decoration.  Institutions  which  could  bear  and  breed 
such  men  as  Lincoln  and  Emerson  had  surely  some 
energy  for  good.  No,  amid  all  the  fruitless  turmoil 
and  miscarriage  of  the  world,  if  there  be  one  thing 
steadfast  and  of  favorable  omen,  one  thing  to  make 
optimism  distrust  its  own  obscure  distrust,  it  is  the 
rooted  instinct  in  men  to  admire  what  is  better  and 
more  beautiful  than  themselves.  The  touchstone  of 
political  and  social  institutions  is  their  ability  to 
supply  them  with  worthy  objects  of  this  sentiment, 
which  is  the  very  tap-root  of  civilization  and  progress. 
There  would  seem  to  be  no  readier  way  of  feeding  it 
with  the  elements  of  growth  and  vigor  than  such  an 
organization  of  society  as  will  enable  men  to  respect 
themselves,  and  so  to  justify  them  in  respecting 
others. 

Such  a  result  is  quite  possible  under  other  condi- 
tions than  those  of  an  avowedly  democratical  Consti- 
tution.   For  I  take  it  that  the  real  essence  of  democ- 


44  Democracy    Today 

racy  was  fairly  enough  defined  by  the  First  Napoleon 
when  he  said  that  the  French  Revolution  meant  "la 
carriers  ouverte  aux  talents" — a  clear  pathway  for 
merit  of  whatever  kind.^^  I  should  be  inclined  to 
paraphrase  this  by  calling  democracy  that  form  of 
society,  no  matter  what  its  political  classification,  in 
which  every  man  had  a  chance  and  knew  that  he  had 
it.  If  a  man  can  climb,  and  feels  himself  encouraged  to 
climb,  from  a  coalpit  to  the  highest  position  for  which 
he  is  fitted,  he  can  well  afford  to  be  indifferent  what 
name  is  given  to  the  government  under  which  he  lives. 
The  Bailli  of  Mirabeau,  uncle  of  the  more  famous 
tribune  of  that  name,  wrote  in  1771:  "The  English 
are,  in  my  opinion,  a  hundred  times  more  agitated 
and  more  unfortunate  than  the  very  Algerines  them- 
selves, because  they  do  not  know  and  will  not  know 
till  the  destruction  of  their  overswollen  power,  which 
I  believe  very  near,  whether  they  are  monarchy,  aris- 
tocracy, or  democracy,  and  wish  to  play  the  part  of 
all  three."  England  has  not  been  obliging  enough 
to  fulfill  the  Bailli 's  prophecy,  and  perhaps  it  was  this 
very  carelessness  about  the  name,  and  concern  about 
the  cubstance  of  popular  government,  this  skill  in 
getting  the  best  out  of  things  as  they  are,  in  utilizing 
all  the  motives  which  influence  men,  and  in  giving 
one  direction  to  many  impulses,  that  has  been  a  prin- 
cipal factor  of  her  greatness  and  power.  Perhaps  it 
is  fortunate  to  have  an  unwritten  constitution,^^  for 
men  are  prone  to  be  tinkering  the  work  of  their  own 
hands,  whereas  they  are  more  willing  to  let  time  and 
circumstance  mend  or  modify  what  time  and  circum- 


Democracy — Lowell  45 

stances  have  made.  All  free  governments,  whatever 
their  name,  are  in  reality  governments  by  public 
opinion,  and  it  is  on  the  quality  of  this  public  opin- 
ion that  their  prosperity  depends.  It  is,  therefore, 
their  first  duty  to  purify  the  element  from  which 
they  draw  the  breath  of  life.  With  the  growth  of 
democracy  gi'ows  also  the  fear,  if  not  the  danger, 
that  this  atmosphere  may  be  corrupted  with  poison- 
ous exhalations  from  lower  and  more  malarious  levels, 
and  the  question  of  sanitation  becomes  more  instant 
and  pressing.  Democracy  in  its  best  sense  is  merely 
the  letting  in  of  light  and  air.  Lord  Sherbrooke,^°  with 
his  usual  epigrammatic  terseness,  bids  you  educate 
your  future  rulers.  But  would  this  alone  be  a  suffi- 
cient safeguard?  To  educate  the  intelligence  is  to 
enlarge  the  horizon  of  its  desires  and  wants.  And 
it  is  well  that  this  should  be  so.  But  the  enterprise 
must  go  deeper  and  prepare  the  way  for  satisfying 
those  desires  and  wants  in  so  far  as  they  are  legiti- 
mate. What  is  really  ominous  of  danger  to  the  exist- 
ing order  of  things  is  not  democracy  (which,  properly 
understood,  is  a  conservative  force),  but  the  Socialism, 
which  may  find  a  fulcrum  in  it.  If  we  cannot  equalize 
conditions  and  fortunes*^  any  more  than  we  can 
equalize  the  brains  of  men — and  a  very  sagacious  per- 
son has  said  that  "where  two  men  ride  of  a  horse 
one  must  ride  behind" — we  can  yet,  perhaps,  do 
something  to  correct  those  methods  and  influences 
that  lead  to  enormous  inequalities,  and  to  prevent  their 
growing  more  enormous.  It  is  all  very  well  to  pooh- 
pooh  Mr.  George^^  and  to  prove  him  mistaken  in  his 


46  Democracy    Today 

political  economy.  I  do  not  believe  that  land  should 
be  divided  because  the  quantity  of  it  is  limited  by 
nature.  Of  what  may  this  not  be  said?  A  fortiori, 
we  might  on  the  same  principle  insist  on  a  division 
of  human  wit,  for  I  have  observed  that  the  quantity 
of  this  has  been  even  more  inconveniently  limited. 
Mr.  George  himself  has  an  inequitably  large  share  of 
it.  But  he  is  right  in  his  impelling  motive;  right, 
also,  I  am  convinced,  in  insisting  that  humanity  makes 
a  part,  by  far  the  most  important  part,  of  political 
economy ;  and  in  thinking  man  to  be  of  more  concern 
and  more  convincing  than  the  longest  columns  of 
figures  in  the  world.  For  unless  you  include  human 
nature  in  your  addition,  your  total  is  sure  to  be  wrong 
and  your  deductions  from  it  fallacious.  Communism 
means  barbarism,  but  Socialism  means,  or  wishes 
to  mean,  cooperation  and  community  of  interests, 
sympathy,  the  giving  to  the  hands  not  so  large 
a  share  as  to  the  brains,  but  a  larger  share  than 
hitherto  in  the  wealth  they  must  combine  to  produce 
— means,  in  short,  the  practical  application  of  Chris- 
tianity to  life,  and  has  'in  it  the  secret  of  an  orderly 
and  benign  reconstruction.  State  Socialism  would 
cut  off  the  very  roots  in  personal  character — self-help, 
forethought,  and  frugality — ^which  nourish  and  sus- 
tain the  trunk  and  branches  of  every  vigorous  Com- 
monwealth. 

I  do  not  believe  in  violent  changes,  nor  do  I  expect 
them.  Things  in  possession  have  a  very  firm  grip.** 
One  of  the  strongest  cements  of  society  is  the  convic- 
tion of  mankind  that  the  state  of  things  into  which 


Democracy — Lowell  41 

they  are  born  is  a  part  of  the  order  of  the  universe, 
as  natural,  let  us  say,  as  that  the  sun  should  go  round 
the  earth.  It  is  a  conviction  that  they  will  not  sur- 
render except  on  compulsion,  and  a  wise  society 
should  look  to  it  that  this  compulsion  be  not  put  upon 
them.  For  the  individual  man  there  is  no  radical 
cure,  outside  of  human  nature  itself,  for  the  evils 
to  which  human  nature  is  heir.  The  rule  will  always 
hold  good  that  you  must 

Be  your  own  palace  or  the  world's  your  gaol. 

But  for  artificial  evils,  for  evils  that  spring  from 
want  of  thought,  thought  must  find  a  remedy  some- 
where. There  has  been  no  period  of  time  in  which 
wealth  has  been  more  sensible  of  its  duties  than  now. 
It  builds  hospitals,  it  establishes  missions  among  the 
poor,  it  endows  schools.  It  is  one  of  the  advantages 
of  accumulated  wealth,  and  of  the  leisure  it  renders 
possible,  that  people  have  time  to  think  of  the  wants 
and  sorrows  of  their  fellows.  But  all  these  remedies 
are  partial  and  palliative  merely.  It  is  as  if  we  should 
apply  plasters  to  a  single  pustule  of  the  smallpox 
with  a  view  of  driving  out  the  disease.  The  true  way 
is  to  discover  and  to  extirpate  the  germs.  As  society 
is  now  constituted  these  are  in  the  air  it  breathes, 
in  the  water  it  drinks,  in  things  that  seem,  and  which 
it  has  always  believed,  to  be  the  most  innocent  and 
healthful.  The  evil  elements  it  neglects  corrupt  these 
in  their  springs  and  pollute  them  in  their  courses. 
Let  us  be  of  good  cheer,  however,  remembering  that 
the  misfortunes  hardest  to  bear  are  those  which  nevei' 


48    .  Bemocracy    Today 

oome.  The  world  has  outlived  much,  and  will  outlive 
a  great  deal  more,  and  men  have  contrived  to  be 
happy  in  it.  It  has  shown  the  strength  of  its  con- 
stitution in  nothing  more  than  in  surviving  the  quack 
medicines  it  has  tried.  In  the  scales  of  the  destinies 
brawn  will  never  weigh  so  much  as  brain.  Our  heal- 
ing is  not  in  the  storm  or  in  the  whirlwind,  it  is  not 
in  monarchies,  or  aristocracies,  or  democracies,  but 
will  be  revealed  by  the  still  small  voice  that  speaks 
to  the  conscience  and  the  heart,  prompting  us  to  a 
wider  and  wiser  humanity. 


THE   MESSAGE   OF   WASHINGTON 

Grover  Cleveland 

[delivered  at   CHICAGO,   FEBRUARY   22,    1907] 

In  furtherance  of  the  high  endeavor  of  your  organ- 
ization, it  would  have  been  impossible  to  select  for 
observance  any  other  civic  holiday  having  as  broad 
and  fitting  a  sigmficance  as  this.  It  memorizes  the 
birth  of  one  whose  glorious  deeds  are  transeendently 
above  all  others  recorded  in  our  national  annals ;  and, 
in  memorizing  the  birth  of  Washington,  it  commem- 
orates the  incarnation  of  all  the  virtues  and  all  the 
ideals  that  made  our  nationality  possible,  and  gave 
it  promise  of  growth  and  strength.  It  is  a  holiday 
that  belongs  exclusively  to  the  American  people.  All 
that  Washington  did  was  bound  up  in  our  national 
life,  and  became  interwoven  with  the  warp  of  our 
national  destiny.  The  battles  he  fought  were  fought 
for  American  liberty,  and  the  victories  he  won  gave 
us  national  independence.  His  example  of  unselfish 
consecration,^  and  lofty  patriotism  made  manifest,  as 
in  an  open  book,  that  those  virtues  were  conditions 
not  more  vital  to  our  nation's  beginning  than  to  its 
development  and  durability.  His  faith  in  God,  and 
the  fortitude  of  his  faith,  taught  those  for  whom  he 
wrought  that  the  surest  strength  of  nations  comes 
from  the  support  of  God's  almighty  arm.  His  uni- 
versal and  unaffected  sympathy  with  those  in  every 
sphere  of  American  life,  his  thorough  knowledge  of 

.     49 


50  Democracy    Today 

existing  American  conditions,  and  his  wonderful  fore- 
sight of  conditions  yet  to  be,  coupled  with  his  power- 
ful influence  in  the  councils  of  those  who  were  to 
make  or  mar  the  fate  of  an  infant  nation,  made  him 
a  tremendous  factor  in  the  construction  and  adoption 
of  the  constitutional  chart  by  which  the  course  of  the 
aewly  launched  republic  could  be  safely  sailed.  And 
it  was  he  who  first  took  the  helm,  and  demonstrated, 
for  the  guidance  of  all  who  might  succeed  him,  how 
and  in  what  spirit  and  intent  the*  responsibilities  of 
our  chief  magistracy  should  be  discharged. 

If  your  observance  of  this  day  were  intended  to 
make  more  secure  the  immortal  fame  of  Washington, 
or  to  add  to  the  strength  and  beauty  of  his  imperish- 
able monument  built  upon  a  nation's  affectionate 
remembrance,  your  purpose  would  be  useless.  Wash- 
ington has  no  need  of  you.  But  in  every  moment, 
from  the  time  he  drew  his  sword  in  the  cause  of 
American  independence  to  this  hour,  living  or  dead, 
the  American  people  have  needed  him.  It  is  not 
important  now,  nor  will  it  be  in  all  the  coming  years, 
to  remind  our  countrymen  that  Washington  has  lived, 
and  that  his  achievements  in  his  country's  service 
are  above  all  praise.  But  it  is  important — and  more 
important  now  than  ever  before — that  they  should 
clearly  apprehend  and  adequately  value  the  virtues 
and  ideals  of  which  he  was  the  embodiment,  and  that 
they  should  realize  how  essential  to  our  safety  and 
perpetuity  are  the" consecration  and  patriotism  which 
he  exemplified.  The  American  people  need  today  the 
example  and  teachings  of  Washington  no  less  than 


The    Message    of    Washington  51 

those  who  fashioned  our  nation  needed  his  labors  and 
guidance;  and  only  so  far  as  we  commemorate  his 
birth  with  a  sincere  recognition  of  this  need  can  our 
commemoration  be  useful  to  the  present  generation. 

It  is,  therefore,  above  all  things,  absolutely  essential 
to  an  appropriately  commemorative  condition  of 
mind  that  there  should  be  no  toleration  of  even  the 
shade  of  a  thought  that  what  Washington  did  and 
said  and  wrote,  in  aid  of  the  young  American  republic 
have  become  in  the  least  outworn,  or  that  in  these 
later  days  of  material  advance  and  development  they 
may  be  merely  pleasantly  recalled  with  a  sort  of 
affectionate  veneration,  and  with  a  kind  of  indulgent 
and  loftily  courteous  concession  of  the  value  of 
Washington's  example  and  precepts.  These  consti- 
tute the  richest  of  all  our  crown  jewels;  and,  if  we 
disregard  them  or  depreciate  their  value,  we  shall  be 
no  better  than  "the  base  Indian  who  threw  a  pearl 
away  richer  than  all  his  tribe,  "^ 

They  are  full  of  stimulation  to  do  grand  and  noble 
things,  and  full  of  lessons  enjoining  loyal  adherenc3 
to  public  duty.  But  they  teach  nothing  more  impres- 
sive and  nothing  more  needful  by  way  of  recalling 
our  countrymen  to  a  faith  which  has  become  some- 
what faint  and  obscured  than  the  necessity  to  national 
beneficence  and  the  people 's  happiness  of  the  homely, 
simple,  personal  virtues  that  grow  and  thrive  in  the 
hearts  of  men  who,  with  high  intent,  illustrate  the 
goodness  there  is  in  human  nature. 

Three  months  before  his  inauguration  as  first 
President  of  the  republic  which  he  had  done  so  much 


52  Democracy    Today 

to  create,  Wasnington  wrote  a  letter  to  Lafayette,^ 
his  warm  friend  and  revolutionary  ally,  in  which  he 
expressed  his  unremitting  desire  to  establish  a  general 
system  of  policy  which,  if  pursued,  would  "ensure 
permanent  felicity  to  the  commonwealth";  and  he 
added  these  words: 

"I  think  I  see  a  path  as  clear  and  as  direct  as  a 
ray  of  light,  which  leads  to  the  attainment  of  that 
object.  Nothing  but  harmony,  honesty,  industry,  and 
frugality  is  necessary  to  make  us  a  great  and  happy 
people.  Happily,  the  present  posture  of  affairs,  and 
the  prevailing  disposition  of  my  countrymen  promise 
to  cooperate  in  establishing  those  four  great  and 
essential  pillars  of  public  felicity. ' ' 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  be  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  which  should  pervade  this  occasion  if  we  fail 
to  realize  the  momentous  import  of  this  declaration, 
and  if  we  doubt  its  conclusiveness  or  its  application 
to  any  stage  of  our  national  life,  we  are  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  a  proper  and  improving  observance  of  the 
birthday  of  George  Washington. 

Such  considerations  as  these  suggest  the  thought 
that  this  is  a  time  for  honest  self-examination.  The 
question  presses  upon  us  with  a  demand  for  reply  that 
will  not  be  denied : 

Who  among  us  all,  if  our  hearts  are  purged  of 
misleading  impulses  and  our  minds  freed  from  per- 
verting pride,  can  be  sure  that  today  the  posture  of 
affairs  and  the  prevailing  disposition  of  our  country- 
men cooperate  in  the  establishment  and  promotion 
of  harmony,  honesty,  industry,  and  frugality? 


The    Message    of    Washington  53 

When  "Washington  wrote  that  nothing  but  these 
v«as  necessary  to  make  us  a  great  and  happy  people, 
he  had  in  mind  the  harmony  of  American  brotherhood 
and  unenvious  good  will,  the  honesty  that  injures 
against  the  betrayal  of  public  trust  and  hates  devious 
ways  and  conscienceless  practices,  the  industry  that 
recognizes  in  faithful  work  and  intelligent  endeavor 
abundant  promise  of  well-earned  competence  and 
provident  accumulation,  and  the  frugality  which  out- 
laws waste  and  extravagant  display  as  plunderers  of 
thrift  and  promoters  of  covetous  discontent. 

The  self-examination  invited  by  this  day's  com- 
memoration will  be  incomplete  and  superficial  if  we 
are  not  thereby  forced  to  the  confession  that  there 
are  signs  of  the  times  which  indicate  a  weakness  and 
relaxation  of  our  hold  upon  these  saving  virtues. 
When  thus  forewarned,  it  is  the  height  of  recreancy 
for  us  obstinately  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  needs  of  the 
situation,  and  refuse  admission  to  the  thought  that 
evil  can  overtake  us.  If  we  are  to  deserve  security, 
and  make  good  our  claim  to  sensible,  patriotic  Amer- 
icanism, we  will  carefully  and  dutifully  take  our 
bearings,  and  discover,  if  we  can,  how  far  wind  and 
tide  have  carried  us  away  from  safe  waters. 

If  we  find  that  the  wickedness  of  destructive  agita- 
tors and  the  selfish  depravity  of  demagogues  have 
stirred  up  discontent  and  strife  where  there  should 
be  peace  and  harmony,  and  have  arrayed  against  each 
other  interests  which  should  dwell  together  in  hearty 
cooperation;  if  we  find  that  the  old  standards  ol 
sturdy,    uncompromising    American    honesty    have 


54  Democracy    Today 

become  so  corroded  and  weakened  by  a  sordid  atmos- 
phere that  our  people  are  hardly  startled  by  crime 
in  high  places  and  shameful  betrayals  of  trust  every- 
where ;  if  we  find  a  sadly  prevalent  disposition  among 
us  to  turn  from  the  highway  of  honorable  industry 
into  shorter  crossroads  leading  to  irresponsible  and 
worthless  ease;  if  we  find  that  widespread  wasteful- 
ness and  extravagance  have  discredited  the  wholesome 
frugality  which  was  once  the  pride  of  Americanism 
we  should  recall  Washington's  admonition  that  har- 
mony, industry,  and  frugality  are  "essential  pillars 
of  public  felicity, ' '  and  forthwith  endeavor  to  change 
our  course. 

To  neglect  this  is  not  only  to  neglect  the  admonition 
of  Washington,  but  to  miss  or  neglect  the  conditions 
which  our  self-examination  has  made  plain  to  us. 
These  conditions  demand  something  more  from  us 
than  warmth  and  zest  in  the  tribute  we  pay  to  Wash- 
ington, and  something  more  even  than  acceptance  of 
his  teachings,  however  reverent  our  acceptance 
may  be. 

The  sooner  we  reach  a  state  of  mind  which  keeps 
constantly  before  us,  as  a  living,  active,  impelling 
force,  the  truth  that  our  people,  good  or  bad,  harmon- 
ious or  with  daggers  drawn,  honest  or  unscrupulous, 
industrious  or  idle,  constitute  the  source  of  our 
nation 's  temperament  and  health,  and  that  the  traits 
and  faults  of  our  people  must  necessarily  give  quality 
and  color  to  our  national  behavior,  the  sooner  we  shall 
appreciate  the  importance  of  protecting  this  source 
from  unwholesome  contamination.     And  the  sooner 


The    Message    of    Washington  55 

all  of  us  honestly  acknowledge  this  to  be  an  individual 
duty  that  cannot  be  shifted  or  evaded,  and  the  more 
thoroughly  we  purge  ourselves  from  influences  that 
hinder  its  conscientious  performance,  the  sooner  will 
our  country  be  regenerated  and  made  secure  by  the 
saving  power  of  good  citizenship. 

It  is  our  habit  to  affiliate  with  political  parties. 
Happily,  the  strength  and  solidity  of  our  institutions 
can  safely  withstand  the  utmost  freedom  and  activity 
of  political  discussion  so  far  as  it  involves  the  adop- 
tion of  governmental  policies  or  the  enforcement  of 
good  administration.  But  they  cannot  withstand  the 
frenzy  of  hate  which  seeks,  under  the  guise  of  political 
earnestness,  to  blot  out  American  brotherhood,  and 
cunningly  to  persuade  our  people  that  a  crusade  of 
envy  and  malice  is  no  more  than  a  zealous  insistence 
upon  their  manhood  rights. 

Political  parties  are  exceedingly  human;  and  they 
more  easily  fall  before  temptation  than  individuals, 
by  so  much  as  partisan  success  is  the  law  of  their 
life,  and  because  their  responsibility  is  impersonal. 
It  is  easily  recalled  that  political  organizations  have 
been  quite  willing  to  utilize  gusts  of  popular  prejudice 
and  resentment;  and  I  believe  they  have  been  known, 
as  a  matter  of  shrewd  management,  to  encourage 
voters  to  hope  for  some  measure  of  relief  from! 
economic  abuses,  and  yet  to  "stand  pat"  on  the  day 
appointed  for  realization. 

We  have  fallen  upon  a  time  when  it  behooves  every 
thoughtful  citizen,  whose  political  beliefs  are  based 
on  reason  and  who  cares  enough  for  his  manliness 


56  Democracy    Today 

and  duty  to  save  them  from  barter,  to  realize  that  the 
organization  of  the  party  of  his  choice  needs  watch- 
ing, and  that  at  times  it  is  not  amiss  critically  to 
observe  its  direction  and  tendency.  This  certainly 
ought  to  result  in  our  country 's  gain ;  and  it  is  only 
partisan  impudence  that  condemns  a  member  of  a 
political  party  who,  on  proper  occasion,  submits  its 
conduct  and  the  loyalty  to  principle  of  its  leaders 
to  a  Court  of  Review,  over  which  his  conscience,  his 
reason  and  his  political  understanding  preside. 

I  protest  that  I  have  not  spoken  in  a  spirit  of 
pessimism.  I  have  and  enjoy  my  full  share  of  the 
pride  and  exultation  which  our  country's  material 
advancement  so  fully  justifies.  Its  limitless  resources, 
its  astonishing  growth,  its  unapproachable  industrial 
development,  and  its  irrepressible  inventive  genius 
have  made  it  the  wonder  of  the  centuries.  Neverthe- 
less, these  things  do  not  complete  the  story  of  a  people 
truly  great.  Our  country  is  infinitely  more  than  a 
domain  affording  to  those  who  dwell  upon  it  immense 
material  advantages  and  opportunities.  In  such  a 
country  we  live.  But  I  love  to  think  of  a  glorious 
nation  built  upon  the  will  of  free  men,  set  apart  for 
the  propagation  and  cultivation  of  humanity's  best 
ideal  of  a  free  government,  and  made  ready  for  the 
growth  and  fruitage  of  the  highest  aspirations  of 
patriotism.  This  is  the  country  that  lives  in  us.  I 
indulge  in  no  mere  figure  of  speech  when  I  say  that 
our  nation,  the  immortal  spirit  of  our  domain,  lives 
in  us — in  our  hearts  and  minds  and  consciences. 
There  it  must  find  its  nutriment  or  die.    This  thought 


The    Message    of    Washington  57 

more  than  any  other  presents  to  our  minds  the 
impressiveness  and  responsibility  of  American  citizen- 
ship. The  land  we  live  in  seems  to  be  strong  and 
active.  But  how  fares  the  land  that  lives  in  us  ?  Are 
we  sure  that  we  are  doing  all  we  ought  to  keep  it  in 
vigor  and  health  ?  Are  we  keeping  its  roots  well  sur- 
rounded by  the  fertile  soil  of  loving  allegiance,  and 
are  we  furnishing  them  the  invigorating  moisture  of 
unselfish  fidelity?  Are  we  as  diligent  as  we  ought 
to  be  to  protect  this  precious  growth  against  the 
poison  that  must  arise  from  the  decay  of  harmony 
and  honesty  and  industry  and  frugality;  and  are  we 
sufficiently  watchful  against  the  deadly,  burrowing 
pests  of  consuming  greed  and  cankerous  cupidity? 
Our  answers  to  these  questions  make  up  the  account 
of  our  stewardship  as  keepers  of  a  sacred  trust. 

The  land  we  live  in  is  safe  as  long  as  we  are  duti- 
fully careful  of  the  land  that  lives  in  us.  But  good 
intentions  and  fine  sentiments  will  not  meet  the 
emergency.  If  we  would  bestow  upon  the  land  that 
lives  in  us  the  care  it  needs,  it  is  indispensable  that 
we  should  recognize  the  weakness  of  our  human 
nature,  and  our  susceptibility  to  temptations  and 
influences  that  interfere  with  a  full  conception  of  our 
obligations;  and  thereupon  we  should  see  to  it  that 
cupidity  and  selfishness  do  not  blind  our  consciences 
or  dull  our  efforts. 

From  different  points  of  view  I  have  invited  you 
to  consider  with  me  what  obligations  and  responsibil- 
ities rest  upon  those  who  in  this  country  of  ours  are 
entitled  to  be  called  good   citizens.     The  things   I 


58  Democracy    Today 

pointed  out  may  be  trite.  I  know  I  have  spoken  in 
the  way  of  exhortation  rather  than  with  an  attempt 
to  say  something  new  and  striking.  Perhaps  you 
have  suspected,  what  I  am  quite  willing  to  confess, 
that,  behind  all  that  I  have  said,  there  is  in  my  mind 
a  sober  conviction  that  we  all  can  and  ought  to  do 
more  for  the  country  that  lives  in  us  than  it  has  been 
our  habit  to  do;  and  that  no  better  means  to  this 
end  are  at  hand  than  a  revival  of  pure  patriotic  affec- 
tion for  our  country  for  its  own  sake,  and  the  accep- 
tance, as  permanent  occupants  in  our  hearts  and 
minds,  of  the  virtues  which  Washington  regarded  as 
all  that  was  necessary  to  make  us  a  great  and  happy 
people,  and  which  he  declared  to  be  "the  great  and 
essential  pillars  of  public  felicity" — harmony,  hon- 
esty, industry,  and  frugality. 


OUR  RESPONSIBILITIES  AS  A  NATION 
Theodore  Roosevelt 

[inaugural   address   delivered   at   WASHINGTON, 
MARCH  4,  1905] 

ISO  people  on  earth  have  more  cause  to  be  thankful 
than  ours,  and  this  is  said  reverently,  in  no  spirit  of 
boastfulness  in  our  own  strength,  but  with  latitude 
to  the  Giver  of  Good,  who  has  blessed  us  with  the 
conditions  which  have  enabled  us  to  achieve  so  large 
a  measure  of  well-being  and  of  happiness.  To  us  as 
a  people  it  has  been  granted  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  our  national  life  in  a  new  continent.  We  are  the 
heirs  of  the  ages,  and  yet  we  have  had  to  pay  few  of 
the  penalties  which  in  old  countries  are  exacted  by  the 
dead  hand  of  a  bygone  civilization.  We  have  not 
been  obliged  to  fight  for  our  existence  against  any 
alien  race;  and  yet  our  life  has  called  for  the  vigor 
and  effort  without  which  the  manlier  and  hardier 
virtues  wither  away.  Under  such  conditions  it  would 
be  our  own  fault  if  we  failed ;  and  the  success  which 
we  have  had  in  the  past,  the  success  which  we  confi- 
dently believe  the  future  will  bring,  should  cause  in 
us  no  feeling  of  vainglory,  but  rather  a  deep  and 
abiding  realization  of  all  which  life  has  offered  us; 
a  full  acknowledgment  of  the  responsibility  which  is 
ours;  and  a  fixed  determination  to  show  that  under  a 
free  government  a  mighty  people  can  thrive  best, 

6d 


60  Democracy    Today 

alike  as  regards  the  things  of  the  body  and  the  things 
of  the  soul. 

Much  has  been  given  to  us,  and  much  will  right- 
fully be  expected  from  us.  We  have  duties  to  others 
and  duties  to  ourselves;  and  we  can  shirk  neither. 
We  have  become  a  great  nation,  forced  by  the  fact 
of  its  greatness  into  relations  with  the  other  nations 
of  the  earth ;  and  we  must  behave  as  beseems  a  people 
with  such  responsibilities.  Toward  all  other  nations, 
large  and  small,  our  attitude  must  be  one  of  cordial 
and  sincere  friendship.  We  must  show  not  only  in 
our  words  but  in  our  deeds  that  we  are  earnestly.^ 
desirous  of  securing  their  good  will  by  acting  toward 
them  in  a  spirit  of  just  and  generous  recognition  of 
all  their  rights.  But  justice  and  generosity  in  a 
nation,  as  in  an  individual,  count  most  when  shown 
not  by  ".he  weak  but  by  the  strong.  While  ever  careful 
to  refrain  from  wronging  others,  we  must  be  no  less 
insistent  that  we  are  not  wronged  ourselves.  We  wish 
peace ;  but  we  wish  the  peace  of  justice,  the  peace  of 
righteousness.  We  wish  it  because  we  think  it  is  right 
and  not  because  we  are  afraid.  No  weak  nation  that 
acts  manfully  and  justly  should  ever  have  cause  to 
fear  us,  and  no  strong  power  should  ever  be  able  to 
single  us  out  as  a  subject  for  insolent  aggression. 

Our  relations  with  the  other  Powers  of  the  world 
are  important ;  but  still  more  important  are  our  rela- 
tions among  ourselves.  Such  growth  in  wealth,  in 
population,  and  in  power  as  this  nation  has  seen 
during  the  century  and  a  quarter  of  its  national  life 


Our  Besp&nsibilities  as  a  Nation  61 

is  inevitably  accompanied  by  a  like  growth  in  the 
problems  which  are  ever  before  every  nation  that 
rises  to  greatness.  Power  invariably  means  both 
responsibility  and  danger.  Our  forefathers  faced  cer- 
tain perils  which  we  have  outgrown.  We  now  face 
other  perils,  the  very  existence  of  which  it  was  impos- 
sible that  they  should  foresee.  Modern  life  is  both 
complex  and  intense,  and  the  tremendous  changes 
wrought  by  the  extraordinary  industrial  development 
of  the  last  half  century  are  felt  in  every  fiber  of  our 
social  and  political  being.  Never  before  have  men 
tried  so  vast  and  formidable  an  experiment  as  that 
of  administering  the  affairs  of  a  continent  under  the 
form  of  a  democratic  republic.  The  conditions  which 
have  told  for  our  marvelous  material  well-being,  which 
have  developed  to  a  very  high  degree  our  energy, 
self-reliance,  and  individual  initiative,  have  also 
brought  the  care  and  anxiety  inseparable  from  the 
accumulation  of  great  wealth  in  industrial  centers, 
Upon  the  success  of  our  experiment  much  depends; 
not  only  as  regards  our  own  welfare,  but  as  regards 
the  welfare  of  mankind.  If  we  fail,  the  cause  of  free 
self-government  throughout  the  world  will  rock  to  its 
foundations ;  and  therefore  our  responsibility  is  heavy, 
to  ourselves,  to  the  world  as  it  is  today,  and  to  the 
generations  yet  unborn.  There  is  no  good  reason  why 
we  should  fear  the  future  but  there  is  every  reason 
why  we  should  face  it  seriously,  neither  hiding  from 
ourselves  the  gravity  of  the  problems  before  us  nor 
fearing  to  approach  these  problems  with  the  unbend- 
ing, unflinching  purpose  to  solve  them  aright. 


62  Democracy    Today 

Yet,  after  all,  though  the  problems  are  new,  though 
the  tasks  set  before  us  differ  from  the  tasks  set  before 
our  fathers  who  founded  and  preserved  this  Republic, 
the  spirit  in  which  these  tasks  must  be  undertaken 
and  these  problems  faced,  if  our  duty  is  to  be  well 
done,  remains  essentially  unchanged.  We  know  that 
self-government  is  difficult.  We  know  that  no  people 
needs  such  high  traits  of  character  as  that  people 
which  seeks  to  govern  its  affairs  aright  through 
the  freely  expressed  will  of  the  freemen  who  compose 
it.  But  we  have  faith  that  we  shall  not  prove  false 
to  the  memories  of  the  men  of  the  mighty  past.  They 
did  their  work,  they  left  us  the  splendid  heritage  we 
now  enjoy.  We  in  our  turn  have  an  assured  confidence 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  leave  this  heritage  unwasted 
and  enlarged  to  our  children  and  our  children's 
children.  To  do  so  we  must  show,  not  merely  in  great 
crises,  but  in  the  everyday  affairs  of  life,  the  qualities 
of  practical  intelligence,  of  courage,  of  hardihood  and 
endurance,  and  above  all  the  power  of  devotion  t^  a 
lofty  ideal,  which  made  great  the  men  who  founded 
this  Republic  in  the  days  of  Washington,  which  made 
great  the  men  who  preserved  this  Republic  in  the  days 
of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF 
INDEPENDENCE 

WooDROw  Wilson 

[delivered  at  independence  hall,  JULY  4,  1914] 

We  are  assembled  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eighth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  United 
States.  I  suppose  that  we  can  more  vividly  realize  the 
circumstances  of  that  birth  standing  on  this  historic 
spot  than  it  would  be  possible  to  realize  them  any- 
where else.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
written  in  Philadelphia;  it  was  adopted  in  this 
historic  building  by  which  we  stand.  I  have  just 
had  the  privilege  of  sitting  in  the  chair  of  the  great 
man  who  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  those  who 
gave  the  declaration  to  the  world.^  My  hand  rests  at 
this  moment  upon  the  table  upon  which  the  declara- 
tion was  signed.  We  can  feel  that  we  are  almost  in 
the  visible  and  tangible  presence  of  a  great  historic 
transaction. 

Have  you  ever  read  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence or  attended  with  close  comprehension  to  the  real 
character  of  it  when  you  have  heard  it  read  ?  If  you 
have,  you  will  know  that  it  is  not  a  Fourth  of  July 
oration.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  a 
document  preliminary  to  war.  It  was  a  vital  piece  of 
practical  business,  not  a  piece  of  rhetoric ;  and  if  you 
will  pass  beyond  those  preliminary  passages  which 
we  are  accustomed  to  quote  about  the  rights  of  men 

63 


64  Democracy    Today 

and  read  into  the  heart  of  the  document  you  will  see 
that  it  is  very  express  and  detailed,  that  it  consists 
of  a  series  of  definite  specifications  concerning  actual 
public  business  of  the  day.  Not  the  business  of  our 
day,  for  the  matter  with  which  it  deals  is  past,  but 
the  business  of  that  first  revolution  by  which  the 
Nation  was  set  up,  the  business  of  1776.  Its  general 
statements,  its  general  declarations  can  not  mean  any- 
thing to  us  unless  we  append  to  it  a  similar  specific 
body  of  particulars  as  to  what  we  consider  the  essen- 
tial business  of  our  own  day. 

Liberty  does  not  consist,  my  fellow  citizens,  in  mere 
general  declarations  of  the  rights  of  man.  It  consists 
in  the  translation  of  those  declarations  into  definite 
action.  Therefore,  standing  here  where  the  declara- 
tion was  adopted,  reading  its  businesslike  sentences, 
we  ought  to  ask  ourselves  what  there  is  in  it  for  us. 
There  is  nothing  in  it  for  us  unless  we  can  translate 
it  into  the  terms  of  our  own  conditions  and  of  our 
own  lives.  We  must  reduce  it  to  what  the  lawyers 
call  a  bill  of  particulars.  It  contains  a  bill  of  partic- 
ulars, but  the  bill  of  particulars  of  1776.  If  we  would 
keep  it  alive,  we  must  fill  it  with  a  bill  of  particulars 
of  the  year  1914. 

The  task  to  which  we  have  constantly  to  readdress 
ourselves  is  the  task  of  proving  that  we  are  worthy 
of  the  men  who  drew  this  great  declaration^  and  know  ' 
what  they  would  have  done  in  our  circumstances. 
Patriotism  consists  in  some  very  practical  things — 
practical  in  that  they  belong  to  the  life  of  every  day, 
that  they  wear  no  extraordinary  distinction  about 
them,  that  they  are  connected  with  commonplace  duty. 


Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  65 

The  way  to  be  patriotic  in  America  is  not  only  to  love 
America  but  to  love  the  duty  that  lies  nearest  to  our 
hand  and  know  that  in  performing  it  we  are  serving 
our  country.  There  are  some  gentlemen  in  Washing- 
ton, for  example,  at  this  very  moment  who  are  show- 
ing themselves  very  patriotic  in  a  way  which  does 
not  attract  wide  attention  but  seems  to  belong  to 
mere  everyday  obligations.  The  Members  of  the 
House  and  Senate  who  stay  in  hot  Washington  to 
maintain  a  quorum  of  the  Houses  and  transact  the 
all-important  business  of  the  Nation  are  doing  an  act 
of  patriotism.  I  honor  them  for  it,  and  I  am  glad  to 
stay  there  and  stick  by  them  until  the  work  is  done. 
It  is  patriotic,  also,  to  learn  what  the  facts  of  our 
national  life  are  and  to  face  them  with  candor.  I 
have  heard  a  great  many  facts  stated  about  the  present 
business  condition^  of  this  country,  for  example — a 
great  many  allegations  of  fact,  at  any  rate,  but  the 
allegations  do  not  tally  with  one  another.  And  yet  1 
know  that  truth  always  matches  with  truth ;  and  when 
I  find  some  insisting  that  everything  is  going  wrong 
and  others  insisting  that  everything  is  going  right, 
and  when  I  know  from  a  wide  observation  of  the  gen- 
eral circumstances  of  the  country  taken  as  a  whole 
that  things  are  going  extremely  well,  I  wonder  what 
those  who  are  crying  out  that  things  are  wrong  are 
trying  to  do.  Are  they  trying  to  serve  the  country,  or 
are  they  trying  to  serve  something  smaller  than  the 
country  ?  Are  they  trying  to  put  hope  into  the  hearts 
of  the  men  who  work  and  toil  every  day,  or  are  they 
trying  to  plant  discouragement  and  despair  in  those 


66  Democracy    Today 

hearts?  And  why  do  they  cry  that  everything  is 
wrong  and  yet  do  nothing  to  set  it  right?  If  they 
love  America  and  anything  is  wrong  amongst  us,  it  is 
their  business  to  put  their  hand  with  ours  to  the  task 
of  setting  it  right.  When  the  facts  are  known  and 
acknowledged,  the  duty  of  all  patriotic  men  is  to 
accept  them  in  candor  and  to  address  themselves  hope- 
fully and  confidently  to  the  common  counsel  which  is 
necessary  to  act  upon  them  wisely  and  in  universal 
concert. 

I  have  had  some  experiences  in  the  last  fourteen 
months  which  have  not  been  entirely  reassuring.  It 
was  universally  admitted,  for  example,  my  fellow  citi- 
zens, that  the  banking  system  of  this  country  needed 
reorganization.  We  set  the  best  minds  that  we  could 
find  to  the  task  of  discovering  the  best  method  of  reor- 
ganization.^ But  we  met  with  hardly  anything  but 
criticism  from  the  bankers  of  the  country;  we  met 
with  hardly  anything  but  resistance  from  the  major- 
ity of  those  at  least  who  spoke  at  all  concerning  the 
matter.  And  yet  so  soon  as  that  act  was  passed  there 
was  a  universal  chorus  of  applause,  and  the  very  men 
who  had  opposed  the  measure  joined  in  that  applause. 
If  it  was  wrong  the  day  before  it  was  passed,  why  was 
it  right  the  day  after  it  was  passed  ?  Where  had  been 
the  candor  of  criticism  not  only,  but  the  concert  of 
counsel  which  makes  legislative  action  vigorous  and 
safe  and  successful  ? 

It  is  not  patriotic  to  concert  measures  against  one 
another;  it  is  patriotic  to  concert  measures  for  one 
another. 


Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  67 

In  one  sense  the  Declaration  of  Independence  has 
lost  its  significance.  It  has  lost  its  significance  as 
a  declaration  of  national  independence.  Nobody 
outside  of  America  believed  when  it  was  uttered  that 
we  could  make  good  our  independence;  now  no- 
body anywhere  would  dare  to  doubt  that  we  are 
independent  and  can  maintain  our  independence.  As 
a  declaration  of  independence,  therefore,  it  is  a  mere 
historic  document.  Our  independence  is  a  fact  so 
stupendous  that  it  can  be  measured  only  by  the  size 
and  energy  and  variety  and  wealth  and  power  of 
one  of  the  greatest  nations  in  the  world.  But  it  is 
one  thing  to  be  independent  and  it  is  another  thing 
to  know  what  to  do  with  your  independence.  It  is 
one  thing  to  come  to  your  majority  and  another  thing 
to  know  what  you  are  going  to  do  with  your  life  and 
your  energies ;  and  one  of  the  most  serious  questions 
for  sober-minded  men  to  address  themselves  to  in  the 
United  States  is  this :  What  are  we  going  to  do  with 
the  influence  and  power  of  this  great  Nation?  Are 
we  going  to  play  the  old  role  of  using  that  power  for 
our  aggrandizement  and  material  benefit  only?  You 
know  what  that  may  mean.  It  may  upon  occasion 
mean  that  we  shall  use  it  to  make  the  people  of  other 
nations  suffer  in  the  way  in  which  we  said  it  was  intol- 
erable to  suffer  when  we  uttered  our  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

The  Department  of  State  at  Washington  is  con- 
stantly called  upon  to  back  up  the  commercial  enter- 
prises and  the  industrial  enterprises  of  the  United 
States  in  foreign  countries,  and  it  at  one  time  went 


68  Democracy    Today 

so  far  in  that  direction  that  all  its  diplomacy  came 
to  be  designated  as  "dollar  diplomacy."  It  was 
called  upon  to  support  every  man  who  wanted  to  earn 
anything  anywhere  if  he  was  an  American.  But  there 
ought  to  be  a  limit  to  that.  There  is  no  man  who  is 
more  interested  than  I  am  in  carrying  the  enterprise 
of  American  business  men  to  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  I  was  interested  in  it  long  before  I  was  sus- 
pected of  being  a  politician,  I  have  been  preaching 
it  year  after  year  as  the  great  thing  that  lay  in  the 
future  for  the  United  States,  to  show  her  wit  and 
skill  and  enterprise  and  influence  in  every  country  in 
the  world.  But  observe  the  limit  to  all  that  which 
is  laid  upon  us  perhaps  more  than  upon  any  other 
nation  in  the  world.  We  set  this  Nation  up,  at  any 
rate  we  professed  to  set  it  up,  to  vindicate  the  rights 
of  men.  We  did  not  name  any  differences  between 
one  race  and  another.  We  did  not  set  up  any  barriers 
against  any  particular  people.  We  opened  our  gates 
to  all  the  world  and  said,  "Let  all  men  who  wish  to 
be  free  come  to  us  and  they  will  be  welcome."  We 
said,  ' '  This  independence  of  ours  is  not  a  selfish  thing 
for  our  own  exclusive  private  use.  It  is  for  every- 
body to  whom  we  can  find  the  means  of  extending  it. ' ' 
We  can  not  with  that  oath  taken  in  our  youth,  we 
can  not  with  that  great  ideal  set  before  us  when  we 
were  a  young  people  and  numbered  only  a  scant 
3,000,000,  take  upon  ourselves,  now  that  we  are  100,- 
000,000  strong,  any  other  conception  of  duty  than  we 
then  entertained.  If  American  enterprise  in  foreign 
countries,  particularly  in  those  foreign  countries  which 


Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  69 

are  not  strong  enough  to  resist  us,  takes  the  shape  of 
imposing  upon  and  exploiting  the  mass  of  the  people 
of  that  country  it  ought  to  be  checked  and  not  encour- 
aged. I  am  willing  to  get  anything  for  an  American 
that  money  and  enterprise  can  obtain  except  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rights  of  other  men.  I  will  not  help 
any  man  buy  a  power  which  he  ought  not  to  exercise 
over  his  fellow  beings.^ 

You  know,  my  fellow  countrymen,  what  a  big  ques- 
tion there  is  in  Mexico.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the 
Mexican  people  have  never  been  allowed  to  have  any 
genuine  participation  in  their  own  Government  or  to 
exercise  any  substantial  rights  with  regard  to  the  very 
land  they  live  upon.  All  the  rights  that  men  most 
desire  have  been  exercised  by  the  other  fifteen  per 
cent.  Do  you  suppose  that  that  circumstance  is  not 
sometimes  in  my  thought  ?  I  know  that  the  American 
people  have  a  heart  that  will  beat  just  as  strong  for 
those  millions  in  Mexico  as  it  will  beat,  or  has  beaten, 
for  any  other  millions  elsewhere  in  the  world,  and 
that  when  once  they  conceive  what  is  at  stake  in  Mex- 
ico they  will  know  what  ought  to  be  done  in  Mexico. 
I  hear  a  great  deal  said  about  the  loss  of  property  in 
Mexico  and  the  loss  of  the  lives  of  foreigners,  and  I 
deplore  these  things  with  all  my  heart.  Undoubtedly, 
upon  the  conclusion  of  the  present  disturbed  condi- 
tions in  Mexico  those  who  have  been  unjustly  deprived 
of  their  property  or  in  any  wise  unjustly  put  upon 
ought  to  be  compensated.  Men's  individual  rights 
have  no  doubt  been  invaded,  and  the  invasion  of  those 
rights  has  been  attended  by  many  deplorable  circum- 


70  Democracy    Today 

stances  which  ought  sometime,  in  the  proper  way,  to 
be  accounted  for.  But  back  of  it  all  is  the  struggle 
of  a  people  to  come  into  its  own,  and  while  we  look 
upon  the  incidents  in  the  foreground  let  us  not  forget 
the  great  tragic  reality  in  the  background  which 
towers  above  the  whole  picture. 

A  patriotic  American  is  a  man  who  is  not  niggardly 
and  selfish  in  the  things  that  he  enjoys  that  make  for 
human  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man.  He  wants  to 
share  them  with  the  whole  world,  and  he  is  never  so 
proud  of  the  great  flag  under  which  he  lives  as  when 
it  comes  to  mean  to  other  people  as  well  as  to  him- 
self a  symbol  of  hope  and  liberty.  I  would  be  ashamed 
of  this  flag  if  it  did  anything  outside  America  that 
we  would  not  permit  it  to  do  inside  of  America. 

The  world  is  becoming  more  complicated  every  day, 
my  fellow  citizens.  No  man  ought  to  be  foolish  enough 
to  think  that  he  understands  it  all.  And,  therefore, 
I  am  glad  that  there  are  some  simple  things  in  the 
world.  One  of  the  simple  things  is  principle.  Hon- 
esty is  a  perfectly  simple  thing.  It  is  hard  for  me  to 
believe  that  in  most  circumstances  when  a  man  has  a 
choice  of  ways  he  does  not  know  which  is  the  right 
way  and  v/hich  is  the  wrong  way.  No  man  who  has 
chosen  the  wrong  way  ought  even  to  come  into  Inde- 
pendence Square;  it  is  holy  ground  which  he  ought 
not  to  tread  upon.  He  ought  not  to  come  where 
immortal  voices  have  uttered  the  great  sentences  of 
such  a  document  as  this  Declaration  of  Independence 
upon  which  rests  the  liberty  of  a  whole  nation. 


Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  71 

And  so  I  say  that  it  is  patriotic  sometimes  to  prefer 
the  honor  of  the  country  to  its  material  interest. 
Would  you  rather  be  deemed  by  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  incapable  of  keeping  your  treaty  obligations 
in  order  that  you  might  have  free  tolls  for  American 
ships  ?^  The  treaty  under  which  we  gave  up  that  right 
may  have  been  a  mistaken  treaty,  but  there  was  no 
mistake  about  its  meaning. 

When  I  have  made  a  promise  as  a  man  I  try  to  keep 
it,  and  I  know  of  no  other  rule  permissible  to  a  nation. 
The  most  distinguished  nation  in  the  world  is  the 
nation  that  can  and  will  keep  its  promises  even  to  its 
own  hurt.  And  I  want  to  say  parenthetically  that  I 
do  not  think  anybody  was  hurt.  I  cannot  be  enthusi- 
astic for  subsidies  to  a  monopoly,  but  let  those  who 
are  enthusiastic  for  subsidies  ask  themselves  whether 
they  prefer  subsidies  to  unsullied  honor. 

The  most  patriotic  man,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is 
sometimes  the  man  who  goes  in  the  direction  that  he 
thinks  right  even  when  he  sees  half  the  world  against 
him.  It  is  the  dictate  of  patriotism  to  sacrifice  yourself 
if  you  think  that  that  is  the  path  of  honor  and  of  duty. 
Do  not  blame  others  if  they  do  not  agree  with  you. 
Do  not  die  with  bitterness  in  your  heart  because  you 
did  not  convince  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  die  happy 
because  you  believe  that  you  tried  to  serve  your  coun- 
try by  not  selling  your  soul.  Those  were  grim  days, 
the  days  of  1776.  Those  gentlemen  did  not  attach 
their  names  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on 
this  table  expecting  a  holiday  on  the  next  day,  and 
that  4th  of  July  was  not  itself  a  holiday.     They  at- 


72  Democracy    Today 

tached  their  signatures  to  that  significant  document 
knowing  that  if  they  failed  it  was  certain  that  every 
one  of  them  would  hang  for  the  failure.  They  were 
committing  treason  in  the  interest  of  the  liberty  of 
3,000,000  people  in  America.  All  the  rest  of  the  world 
was  against  them  and  smiled  with  cynical  incredulity 
at  the  audacious  undertaking.  Do  you  think  that  if 
they  could  see  this  great  Nation  now  they  would 
regret  anything  that  they  then  did  to  draw  the  gaze 
of  a  hostile  world  upon  them?  Every  idea  must  be 
started  by  somebody,  and  it  is  a  lonely  thing  to  start 
anything.  Yet  if  it  is  in  you,  you  must  start  it  if 
you  have  a  man's  blood  in  you  and  if  you  love  the 
country  that  you  profess  to  be  working  for. 

I  am  sometimes  very  much  interested  when  I  see 
gentlemen  supposing  that  popularity  is  the  way  to 
success  in  America.  The  way  to  success  in  this  great 
country,  with  its  fair  judgments,  is  to  show  that  you 
are  not  afraid  of  anybody  except  God  and  His  final 
verdict.  If  I  did  not  believe  that,  I  would  not  believe 
in  democracy.  If  I  did  not  believe  that,  I  would  not 
believe  that  people  can  govern  themselves.  If  I  did  not 
believe  that  the  moral  judgment  would  be  the  last 
judgment,  the  final  judgment,  in  the  minds  of  men  as 
well  as  the  tribunal  of  God,  I  could  not  believe  in 
popular  government.  But  I  do  believe  these  things, 
and,  therefore,  I  earnestly  believe  in  the  democracy 
not  only  of  America  but  of  every  awakened  people 
that  wishes  and  intends  to  govern  and  control  its  own 
affairs. 

It  is  very  inspiring,  my  friends,  to  come  to  this 


Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  73 

that  may  be  called  the  original  fountain  of  independ- 
ence and  liberty  in  America  and  here  drink  draughts 
of  patriotic  feeling  which  seem  to  renew  the  very 
blood  in  one's  veins.  Down  in  Washington  some- 
times when  the  days  are  hot  and  the  business  presses 
intolerably  and  there  are  so  many  things  to  do  that 
it  does  not  seem  possible  to  do  anything  in  the  way 
it  ought  to  be  done,  it  is  always  possible  to  lift  one's 
thought  above  the  task  of  the  moment  and,  as  it  were, 
to  realize  that  great  thing  of  which  we  are  all  parts, 
the  great  body  of  American  feeling  and  American 
principle.  No  man  could  do  the  work  that  has  to  be 
done  in  Washington  if  he  allowed  himself  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  that  body  of  principle.  He  must  make 
himself  feel  that  he  is  a  part  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  that  he  is  trying  to  think  not'  only  for 
them,  but  with  them,  and  then  he  can  not  feel  lonely. 
He  not  only  can  not  feel  lonely  but  he  can  not  feel 
afraid  of  anything. 

My  dream  is  that  as  the  years  go  on  and  the  world 
knows  more  and  more  of  America  it  will  also  drink  at 
these  fountains  of  youth  and  renewal ;  that  it  also  will 
turn  to  America  for  those  moral  inspirations  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  all  freedom ;  that  the  world  will  never 
fear  America  unless  it  feels  that  it  is  engaged  in  some 
enterprise  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of 
humanity;  and  that  America  will  come  into  the  full 
light  of  the  day  when  all  shall  know  that  she  puts 
human  rights  above  all  other  rights  and  that  her  flag 
is  the  flag  not  only  of  America  but  of  humanity. 

What  other  great  people  has  devoted  itself  to  this 


74  Democracy    Today 

exalted  ideal  ?  To  what  other  nation  in  the  world  can 
all  eyes  look  for  an  instant  sympathy  that  thrills  the 
whole  body  politic  when  men  anywhere  are  fighting 
for  their  rights?  I  do  not  know  that  there  will  ever 
be  a  declaration  of  independence  and  of  grievances 
for  mankind,  but  I  believe  that  if  any  such  document 
is  ever  drawn  it  will  be  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  that 
America  has  lifted  high  the  light  which  will  shine  unto 
all  generations  and  guide  the  feet  of  mankind  to  the 
goal  of  justice  and  liberty  and  peace. 


THE  AMERICAN  OF  FOREIGN  BIRTH 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  before  a  gathering  of  recently 

naturalized  citizens  at  convention  hall, 

philadelphia,  may  10,  1915] 

Mr.  Mayor,  Fellow  Citizens  r  It  warms  my  heart 
that  you  should  give  me  such  a  reception;  but  it  is 
not  of  myself  that  I  wish  to  think  tonight,  but  of 
those  who  have  just  become  citizens  of  the  United 
States. 

This  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  experi- 
ences this  constant  and  repeated  rebirth.  Other  coun- 
tries depend  upon  the  multiplication  of  their  own 
native  people.  This  country  is  constantly  drinking 
strength  out  of  new  sources  by  the  voluntary  associa- 
tion with  it  of  great  bodies  of  strong  men  and  forward- 
looking  women  out  of  other  lands.  And  so  by  the  gift 
of  the  free  will  of  independent  people  it  is  being  con- 
stantly renewed  from  generation  to  generation  by  the 
same  process  by  which  it  was  originally  created.  It 
is  as  if  humanity  had  determined  to  see  to  it  that  this 
great  Nation,  founded  for  the  benefit  of  humanity, 
should  not  lack  for  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the 
world. 

You  have  just  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  Of  allegiance  to  whom?  Of  allegi- 
ance to  no  one,  unless  it  be  God — certainly  not  of  alle- 
giance to  those  who  temporarily  represent  this  great 


76  Democracy  Today 

Government.  You  have  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  a  great  ideal,  to  a  great  body  of  principles,  to  a 
great  hope  of  the  human  race.  You  have  said,  * '  We 
are  going  to  America  not  only  to  earn  a  living,  not 
only  to  seek  the  things  which  it  was  more  difficult  to 
obtain  where  we  were  born,  but  to  help  forward  the 
great  enterprises  of  the  human  spirit — to  let  men 
know  that  everywhere  in  the  world  there  are  men  who 
will  cross  strange  oceans  and  go  where  a  speech  is 
spoken  which  is  alien  to  them  if  they  can  but  satisfy 
their  quest  for  what  their  spirits  crave ;  knowing  that 
whatever  the  speech  there  is  but  one  longing  and  utter- 
ance of  the  human  heart,  and  that  is  for  liberty  and 
justice."  And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with 
you,  you  come  with  a  purpose  of  leaving  all  other 
countries  behind  you — ^bringing  what  is  best  of  their 
spirit,  but  not  looking  over  your  shoulders  and  seek- 
ing to  perpetuate  what  you  intended  to  leave  behind 
in  them.  I  certainly  would  not  be  one  even  to  sug- 
gest that  a  man  cease  to  love  the  home  of  his  birth 
and  the  nation  of  his  origin — these  things  are  very 
sacred  and  ought  not  to  be  put  out  of  our  hearts — 
but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place  where  you  were 
bom  and  it  is  another  thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to 
the  place  to  which  you  go.  You  can  not  dedicate 
yourself  to  America  unless  you  become  in  every 
respect  and  with  every  purpose  of  your  will  thorough 
Americans.  You  can  not  become  thorough  Americans 
if  you  think  of  yourselves  in  groups.  America  does 
not  consist  of  groups.  A  man  who  thinks  of  himself 
as  belonging  to  a  particular  national  group  in  America 


The   American    of   Foreign   Birth  77 

has  not  yet  become  an  American,  and  the  man  who 
goes  among  you  to  trade  upon  your  nationality  is  no 
worthy  son  to  live  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  would  be,  not  only  always 
to  think  first  of  America,  but  always,  also,  to.  think 
first  of  humanity.  You  do  not  love  humanity  if  you 
seek  to  divide  humanity  into  jealous  camps.  Human- 
ity can  be  welded  together  only  by  love,  by  sympathy, 
by  justice,  not  by  jealousy  and  hatred.  I  am  sorry 
for  the  man  who  seeks  to  make  personal  capital  out 
of  the  passions  of  his  fellow-men.  He  has  lost  the 
touch  and  ideal  of  America,  for  America  was  created 
to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions  which  lift  and  not 
by  the  passions  which  separate  and  debase.  We  came 
to  America,  either  ourselves  or  in  the  persons  of  our 
ancestors,  to  better  the  ideals  of  men,  to  make  them 
see  finer  things  than  they  had  seen  before,  to  get  rid 
of  the  things  that  divide  and  to  make  sure  of  the 
things  that  unite.  It  was  but  an  historical  accident 
no  doubt  that  this  great  country  was  called  the 
* '  United  States ' ' ;  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that  it  has 
that  word  "United"  in  its  title,  and  the  man  who 
seeks  to  divide  man  from  man,  group  from  group, 
interest  from  interest  in  this  great  Union  is  striking 
at  its  very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance  to  me,  in  think- 
ing of  those  of  you  who  have  just  sworn  allegiance 
to  this  great  Government,  that  you  were  drawn  across 
the  ocean  by  some  beckoning  finger  of  hope,  by  some 
belief,  by  some  vision  of  a  new  kind  of  justice,  by 
some  expectation  of  a  better  kind  of  life.    No  doubt 


78  Democracy    Today 

you  have  been  disappointed  in  some  of  us.  Some  of 
us  are  very  disappointing.  No  doubt  you  have  found 
that  justice  in  the  United  States  goes  only  with  a 
pure  heart  and  a  right  purpose  as  it  does  everywhere 
else  in  the  world.  No  doubt  what  you  found  here  did 
not  seem  touched  for  you,  after  all,  with  the  complete 
beauty  of  the  ideal  which  you  had  conceived  before- 
hand. But  remember  this:  If  we  had  grown  at  all 
poor  in  the  ideal,  you  had  brought  some  of  it  with  you. 
A  man  does  not  go  out  to  seek  the  thing  that  is  not  in 
him.  A  man  does  not  hope  for  the  thing  that  he  does 
not  believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us  have  forgotten  what 
America  believed  in,  you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in 
your  own  hearts  a  renewal  of  the  belief.  That  is  the 
reason  that  I,  for  one,  make  you  welcome.  If  I  have 
in  any  degree  forgotten  what  America  was  intended 
for,  I  will  thank  God  if  you  will  remind  me.  I  was 
born  in  America.  You  dreamed  dreams  of  what 
America  was  to  be,  and  I  hope  you  brought  the  dreams 
with  you.  No  man  that  does  not  see  visions  will  ever 
realize  any  high  hope  or  undertake  any  high  enter- 
prise. Just  because  you  brought  dreams  with  you, 
America  is  more  likely  to  realize  dreams  such  as  you 
brought.  You  are  enriching  us  if  you  came  expect- 
ing us  to  be  better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It  means  that 
Americans  must  have  a  consciousness  different  from 
the  consciousness  of  every  other  nation  in  the  world. 
I  am  not  saying  this  with  even  the  slightest  thought  of 
criticism  of  other  nations.  You  know  how  it  is  with 
a  family.     A  family  gets  centered  on  itself  if  it  is  not 


The    American    of   Foreign    Birth  79 

careful  and  is  less  interested  in  the  neighbors  than  it 
is  in  its  own  members.  So  a  nation  that  is  not  con- 
stantly renewed  out  of  new  sources  is  apt  to  have  the 
narrowness  and  prejudice  of  a  family;  whereas, 
America  must  have  this  consciousness,  that  on  all  sides 
it  touches  elbows  and  touches  hearts  with  all  the 
nations  of  mankind.  The  example  of  America  must 
be  a  special  example.  The  example  of  America  must 
be  the  example  not  merely  of  peace  because  it  will  not 
fight,  but  of  peace  because  peace  is  the  healing  and 
elevating  influence  of  the  world  and  strife -is  not. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too  proud  to 
fight.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so 
right  that  it  does  not  need  to  convince  others  by  force 
that  it  is  right. 

You  have  come  into  this  great  Nation  voluntarily 
seeking  something  that  we  have  to  give,  and  all  that 
we  have  to  give  is  this:  We  can  not  exempt  you 
from  work.  No  man  is  exempt  from  work  anywhere 
in  the  world.  We  can  not  exempt  you  from  the  strife 
and  the  heartbreaking  burden  of  the  struggle  of  the 
day — that  is  common  to  mankind  everywhere ;  we  can 
not  exempt  you  from  the  loads  that  you  must  carry. 
We  can  only  make  them  light  by  the. spirit  in  which 
they  are  carried.  That  is  the  spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of  justice. 

When  I  was  asked,  therefore,  by  the  Mayor  and 
the  committee  that  accompanied  him  to  come  up  from 
Washington  to  meet  this  great  company  of  newly  ad- 
mitted citizens,  I  could  not  decline  the  invitation.  I 
ought  not  to  be  away  from  Washington,  and  yet  I  feel 


80  Democracy    Today 

that  it  has  renewed  my  spirit  as  an  American  to  be 
here.  In  Washington  men  tell  you  so  many  things 
every  day  that  are  not  so,  and  I  like  to  come  and 
stand  in  the  presence  of  a  great  body  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  whether  they  have  been  my  fellow-citizens 
a  long  time  or  a  short  time,  and  drink,  as  it  were,  out 
of  the  common  fountains  with  them  and  go  back  feel- 
ing what  you  have  so  generously  given  me — the  sense 
of  your  support  and  of  the  living  vitality  in  your 
hearts  of  the  great  ideals  which  have  made  America 
the  hope  of  the  world. 


AMERICA  FIRST 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  before  the  daughters  of  the 
american  revolution,  washington,  d.  c, 

OCTOBER  11,  1915] 

Again  it  is  my  very  great  privilege  to  welcoi^ie  you 
to  the  City  of  Washington  and  to  the  hospitalities  of 
the  Capital.  May  I  admit  a  point  of  ignorance?  I 
was  surprised  to  learn  that  this  association  is  so  young, 
and  that  an  association  so  young  should  devote  itself 
wholly  to  memory  I  can  not  believe.  For  to  me  the 
duties  to  which  you  are  consecrated  are  more  than  the 
duties  and  the  pride  of  memory. 

There  is  a  very  great  thrill  to  be  had  from  the 
memories  of  the  American  Revolution,  but  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  was  a  beginning,  not  a  consummation, 
and  the  duty  laid  upon  us  by  that  beginning  is  the 
duty  of  bringing  the  things  then  begun  to  a  noble 
triumph  of  completion.  For  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
peculiarity  of  patriotism  in  America  is  that  it  is  not  a 
mere  sentiment.  It  is  an  active  principle  of  conduct. 
It  is  something  that  was  born  into  the  world,  not  to 
please  it  but  to  regenerate  it.  It  is  something  that 
was  born  into  the  world  to  replace  systems  that  had 
preceded  it  and  to  bring  men  out  upon  a  new  plane 
of  privilege.  The  glory  of  the  men  whose  memories 
you  honor  and  perpetuate  is  that  they  saw  this  vision, 
and  it  was  a  vision  of  the  future.    It  was  a  vision  of 

81 


82  Democracy    Today 

great  days  to  come  when  a  little  handful  of  three 
million  people  upon  the  borders  of  a  single  sea  should 
have  become  a  great  multitude  of  free  men  and  women 
spreading  across  a  great  continent,  dominating  the 
shores  of  two  oceans,  and  sending  West  as  well  as 
East  the  influences  of  individual  freedom.  These 
things  were  consciously  in  their  minds  as  they  framed 
the  great  Government  which  was  born  out  of  the 
American  Revolution;  and  every  time  we  gather  to 
perpetuate  their  memories  it  is  incumbent  upon  us 
that  we  should  be  worthy  of  recalling  them  and  that 
we  should  endeavor  by  every  means  in  our  power  to 
emulate  their  example. 

The  American  Revolution  was  the  birth  of  a  nation ; 
it  was  the  creation  of  a  great  free  republic  based  upon 
traditions  of  personal  liberty  which  theretofore  had 
been  confined  to  a  single  little  island,  but  which  it  was 
purposed  should  spread  to  all  mankind.  And  the 
singular  fascination  of  American  history  is  that  it 
has  been  a  process  of  constant  re-creation,  of  making 
over  again  in  each  generation  the  thing  which  was 
conceived  at  first.  You  know  how  peculiarly  neces- 
sary that  has  been  in  our  case,  because  America  has 
not  grown  by  the  mere  multiplication  of  the  original 
stock.  It  is  easy  to  preserve  tradition  with  continuity 
of  blood;  it  is  easy  in  a  single  family  to  remember 
the  origins  of  the  race  and  the  purposes  of  its  organ- 
ization; but  it  is  not  so  easy  when  that  race  is  con- 
stantly being  renewed  and  augmented  from  other 
sources,  from  stocks  that  did  not  carry  or  originate 
{the  same  principles. 


America    First  83 

So  from  generation  to  generation  strangers  have 
had  to  be  indoctrinated  with  the  principles  of  the 
American  family,  and  the  wonder  and  the  beauty  of  it 
all  has  been  that  the  infection  has  been  so  generously 
easy.  For  the  principles  of  liberty  are  united  with 
the  principles  of  hope.  Every  individual,  as  well  as 
every  Nation,  wishes  to  realize  the  best  thing  that  is 
in  him,  the  best  thing  that  can  be  conceived  out  of 
the  materials  of  which  his  spirit  is  constructed.  It 
has  happened  in  a  way  that  fascinates  the  imagination 
that  we  have  not  only  been  augmented  by  additions 
from  outside,  but  that  we  have  been  greatly  stimulated 
by  those  additions.  Living  in  the  easy  prosperity 
of  a  free  people,  knowing  that  the  5un  had  always 
been  free  to  shine  upon  us  and  prosper  our  under- 
takings, we  did  not  realize  how  hard  the  task  of  liberty 
is  and  how  rare  the  privilege  of  liberty  is;  but  men 
were  drawn  out  of  every  climate  and  out  of  every  race 
because  of  an  irresistible  attraction  of  their  spirits 
to  the  American  ideal.  They  thought  of  America  as 
lifting,  like  that  great  statue  in  the  harbor  of  New 
York,  a  torch  to  light  the  pathway  of  men  to  the  things 
that  they  desire,  and  men  of  all  sorts  and  conditions 
struggled  toward  that  light  and  came  to  our  shores 
with  an  eager  desire  to  realize  it,  and  a  hunger  for  it 
such  as  some  of  us  no  longer  felt,  for  we  were  as  if 
satiated  and  satisfied  and  were  indulging  ourselves 
after  a  fashion  that  did  not  belong  to  the  ascetic  de- 
votion of  the  early  devotees  of  those  great  principles. 
Strangers  came  to  remind  us  of  what  we  had  promised 
ourselves  and  through  ourselves  had  promised  man- 


84  Democracy    Today 

kind.  All  men  came  to  us  and  said,  "Where  is  the 
bread  of  life  with  which  you  promised  to  feed  us,  and 
have  you  partaken  of  it  yourselves  ? ' '  For  my  part,  I 
believe  that  the  constant  renewal  of  this  people  out  of 
foreign  stocks  has  been  a  constant  source  of  reminder 
to  this  people  of  what  the  inducement  was  that  was 
offered  to  men  who  would  come  and  be  of  our  number. 

Now  we  have  come  to  a  time  of  special  stress  and 
test.  There  never  was  a  time  when  we  needed  more 
clearly  to  conserve  the  principles  of  our  own  patriot- 
ism than  this  present  time.  The  rest  of  the  world 
from  which  our  polities  were  drawn  seems  for  the 
time  in  the  crucible  and  no  man  can  predict  what  will 
come  out  of  that  crucible.  We  stand  apart,  unem- 
broiled,  conscious  of  our  own  principles,  conscious  of 
what  we  hope  and  purpose,  so  far  as  our  powers  per- 
mit, for  the  world  at  large,  and  it  is  necessary  that 
we  should  consolidate  the  American  principle.  Every 
political  action,  every  social  action,  should  have  for 
its  object  in  America  at  this  time  to  challenge  the 
spirit  of  America ;  to  ask  that  every  man  and  woman 
who  thinks  first  of  America  should  rally  to  the  stand- 
ards of  our  life.  There  have  been  some  among  us 
who  have  not  thought  first  of  America,  who  have 
thought  to  use  the  might  of  America  in  some  matter 
not  of  America's  origination.  They  have  forgotten 
that  the  first  duty  of  a  nation  is  to  express  its  own 
individual  principles  in  the  action  of  the  family  of 
nations  and  not  to  seek  to  aid  and  abet  any  rival  or 
contrary  ideal. 

Neutrality  is  a  negative  word.     It  is  a  word  that 


America  First  85 

does  not  express  what  America  ought  to  feeL 
America  has  a  heart  and  that  heart  throbs  with 
all  sorts  of  intense  sympathies,  but  America 
has  schooled  its  heart  to  love  the  things  that 
America  believes  in  and  it  ought  to  devote  itself  only 
to  the  things  that  America  believes  in;  and,  believ- 
ing that  America  stands  apart  in  its  ideals,  it  ought 
not  to  allow  itself  to  be  drawn,  so  far  as  its  heart  is 
concerned,  into  anybody's  quarrel.^  Not  because  it 
does  not  understand  the  quarrel,  not  because  it  does 
not  in  its  head  assess  the  merits  of  the  controversy, 
but  because  America  has  promised  the  world  to  stand 
apart  and  maintain  certain  principles  of  action  which 
are  grounded  in  law  and  in  justice.  "We  are  not  try- 
ing to  keep  out  of  trouble;  we  are  trying  to  preserve 
the  foundations  upon  which  peace  can  be  rebuilt.. 
Peace  can  be  rebuilt  only  upon  the  ancient  and  ac- 
cepted principles  of  international  law,  only  upon  those 
things  which  remind  nations  of  their  duties  to  each 
other,  and,  deeper  than  that,  of  their  duties  to  man- 
kind  and  to  humanity. 

America  has  a  great  cause  which  is  not  confined 
to  the  American  continent.  It  is  the  cause  of  human- 
ity itself.  I  do  not  mean  in  anything  that  I  say  even, 
to  imply  a  judgment  upon  any  nation  or  upon  any 
policy,  for  my  object  here  this  afternoon  is  not  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  anybody  but  ourselves  and  to  chal- 
lenge you  to  assist  all  of  us  who  are  trjdng  to  make 
America  more  than  ever  conscious  of  her  own  princi- 
ples and  her  own  duty.  I  look  forward  to  the  neces- 
sity in  every  political  agitation  in  the  years  which 


86  Democracy    Today 

are  immediately  at  hand  of  calling  upon  every  man 
to  declare  himself,  where  he  stands.  Is  it  America 
first  or  is  it  not? 

We  ought  to  be  very  careful  about  some  of  the 
impressions  that  we  are  forming  just  now.  There  is 
'too  general  an  impression,  I  fear,  that  very  large 
numbers  of  our  fellow-citizens  born  in  other  lands 
have  not  entertained  with  sufficient  intensity  and  af- 
fection the  American  ideal.  But  the  number  of  such 
is,  I  am  sure,  not  large.  Those  who  would  seek  to 
represent  them  are  very  vocal,  but  they  are  not  very 
influential.  Some  of  the  best  stuff  of  America  has 
come  out  of  foreign  lands,  and  some  of  the  best  stuff 
in  America  is  in  the  men  who  are  naturalized  citizens 
of  the  United  States.  I  would  not  be  afraid  upon 
the  test  of  "America  first"  to  take  a  census  of  all  the 
foreign-born  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  I  know 
that  the  vast  majority  of  them  came  here  because  they 
believed  in  America ;  and  their  belief  in  America  has 
made  them  better  citizens  than  some  people  who  were 
bom  in  America.  They  can  say  that  they  have  bought 
this  privilege  with  a  great  price.  They  have  left 
their  homes,  they  have  left  their  kindred,  they  have 
broken  all  the  nearest  and  dearest  ties  of  human  life 
in  order  to  come  to  a  new  land,  take  a  new  rootage, 
begin  a  new  life,  and  so  by  self-sacrifice  express  their 
confidence  in  a  new  principle ;  whereas,  it  cost  us  none 
of  these  things.  We  were  bom  into  this  privilege; 
we  were  rocked  and  cradled  in  it ;  we  did  nothing  to 
create  it ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  the  greater  duty  on  our 
part  to  do  a  great  deal  to  enhance  it  and  preserve  it. 


America   First  87 

I  am  not  deceived  as  to  the  balance  of  opinion  among 
the  foreign-bom  citizens  of  the  United  States,  but  I 
am  in  a  hurry  for  an  opportunity  to  have  a  line-up 
and  let  the  men  who  are  thinking  first  of  other  coun- 
tries stand  on  one  side  and  all  those  that  are  for 
America  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  on  the  other  side. 
Now,  you  can  do  a  great  deal  in  this  direction. 
When  I  was  a  college  officer  I  used  to  bo  very  much 
opposed  to  hazing;  not  because  haziner  is  not  whole- 
some, but  because  sophomores  are  poor  judges.  I 
remember  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine,  a  professor  of 
ethics  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  was  asked  if  he 
thought  it  was  ever  justifiable  to  tell  a  lie.  He  said 
Yes,  he  thought  it  was  sometimes  justifiable  to  lie; 
"but,"  he  said,  "it  is  so  difficult  to  judge  of  the  justi- 
fication that  I  usually  tell  the  truth."  I  think  that 
ought  to  be  the  motto  of  the  sophomore.  There  are 
freshmen  who  need  to  be  hazed,  but  the  need  is  to  be 
judged  by  such  nice  tests  that  a  sophomore  is  hardly 
old  enough  to  determine  them.  But  the  world  can 
determine  them.  We  are  not  freshmen  at  college, 
but  we  are  constantly  hazed.  I  would  a  great  deal 
rather  be  obliged  to  draw  pepper  up  my  nose  than  to 
observe  the  hostile  glances  of  my  neighbors.  I  would 
a  great  deal  rather  be  beaten  than  ostracized.  I  would 
a  great  deal  rather  endure  any  sort  of  physical  hard- 
ship if  I  might  have  the  affection  of  my  fellow-men. 
We  constantly  discipline  our  fellow-citizens  by  having 
an  opinion  about  them.  That  is  the  sort  of  discipline 
we  ought  now  to  administer  to  everybody  who  is  not 
to  the  very  core  of  his  heart  an  American.     Just  have 


88  Democracy    Today 

an  opinion  about  him.  and  let  him  experience  the  at- 
mospheric effects  of  that  opinion !  And  I  know  of  no 
body  of  persons  comparable  to  a  body  of  ladies  for 
creating  an  atmosphere  of  opinion !  I  have  myself  in 
part  yielded  to  the  influences  of  that  atmosphere, 
though  it  took  me  a  long  time  to  determine  how  I  was 
going  to  vote  in  New  Jersey .^ 

So  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  my  privilege  this  after- 
noon was  not  merely  a  privilege  of  courtesy,  but  the 
real  privilege  of  reminding  you — for  I  am  sure  I  am 
doing  nothing  more — of  the  great  principles  which  we 
stand  associated  to  promote.  I  for  my  part  rejoice 
that  we  belong  to  a  country  in  which  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  government  is  so  difficult.  We  do  not  take 
orders  from  anybody ;  it  is  a  universal  communication 
of  conviction,  the  most  subtle,  delicate,  and  difficult 
of  processes.  There  is  not  a  single  individual 's  opin- 
ion that  is  not  of  some  consequence  in  making  up  the 
grand  total,  and  to  be  in  this  great  cooperative  effort 
is  the  most  stimulating  thing  in  the  world.  A  man 
standing  alone  may  well  misdoubt  his  own  judgment. 
He  may  mistrust  his  own  intellectual  processes;  he 
may  even  wonder  if  his  own  heart  leads  him  right  in 
matters  of  public  conduct;  but  if  he  finds  his  heart 
part  of  the  great  throb  of  national  life,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  about  it.  If  that  is  his  happy  circumstance, 
then  he  may  know  that  he  is  part  of  one  of  the  great 
forces  of  the  world. 

I  would  not  feel  any  exhilaration  in  belonging  to 
America  if  I  did  not  feel  that  she  was  something 
more  than  a  rich  and  powerful  nation.     I  should  not 


America  First  89 

feel  proud  to  be  in  some  respects  and  for  a  little  while 
her  spokesman  if  I  did  not  believe  that  there  was  some- 
thing else  than  physical  force  behind  her.  I  believe 
that  the  glory  of  America  is  that  she  is  a  great  spirit- 
ual conception  and  that  in  the  spirit  of  her  institutions 
dwells  not  only  her  distinction  but  her  power.  The 
one  thing  that  the  world  cannot  permanently  resist 
is  the  moral  force  of  great  and  triumphant  convictions. 


THE   SCHOOL   OF   CITIZENSHIP 

WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  before  the  citizenship  conven- 
tion,    W^ILSON     NORMAL     SCHOOL     BUILDING, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  JULY  13,  1916.] 

I  have  come  here  for  the  simple  purpose  of  express- 
ing my  very  deep  interest  in  what  these  conferences 
are  intended  to  attain.  It  is  not  fair  to  the  great 
multitudes  of  hopeful  men  and  women  who  press  into 
this  country  from  other  countries  that  we  should  leave 
them  without  that  friendly  and  intimate  instruction 
which  will  enable  them  very  soon  after  they  come  to 
find  out  what  America  is  like  at  heart  and  what 
America  is  intended  for  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

I  believe  that  the  chief  school  that  these  people  must 
attend  after  they  get  here  is  the  school  which  all  of 
us  attend,  which  is  furnished  by  the  life  of  the  com- 
munities in  which  we  live  and  the  nation  to  which  we 
belong.  It  has  been  a  very  touching  thought  to  me 
sometimes  to  think  of  the  hopes  which  have  drawn 
these  people  to  America.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many 
a  simple  soul  has  been  thrilled  by  that  great  statue 
standing  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  and  seeming  to 
lift  the  light  of  liberty  for  the  guidance  of  the  feet 
of  men;  and  I  can  imagine  that  they  have  expected 
here  something  ideal  in  the  treatment  that  they  will 
receive,  something  ideal  in  the  laws  which  they  would 

90 


The  School  of  Citizenship  91 

have  to  live  under,  and  it  has  caused  me  many  a  time 
to  turn  upon  myself  the  eye  of  examination  to  see 
whether  there  burned  in  me  the  true  light  of  the 
American  spirit  which  they  expected  to  find  here.  It 
is  easy,  my  fellow-citizens,  to  communicate  physical 
lessons,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  communicate  spiritual 
lessons.  America  was  intended  to  be  a  spirit  among 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  con- 
ferences like  this  to  find  out  the  best  way  to  introduce 
the  newcomers  to  this  spirit,  and  by  that  very  interest 
in  them  to  enhance  and  purify  in  ourselves  the  thing 
that  ought  to  make  America  great  and  not  only  ought 
to  make  her  great,  but  ought  to  make  her  exhibit  a 
spirit  unlike  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

I  have  never  been  among  those  who  felt  comfortable 
in  boasting  of  the  superiority  of  America  over  other 
countries.  The  way  to  cure  yourself  of  that  is  to 
travel  in  other  countries  and  find  out  how  mueh  of 
nobility  and  character  and  fine  enterprise  there  is 
everywhere  in  the  world.  The  most  that  America  can 
hope  to  do  is  to  show,  it  may  he,  the  finest  example, 
not  the  only  example,  of  the  things  that  ought  to  bene- 
fit and  promote  the  progress  of  the  world. 

So  my  interest  in  this  movement  is  as  much  an  in- 
terest in  ourselves  as  in  those  whom  we  are  trying  to 
Americanize,  because  if  we  are  genuine  Americans 
they  cannot  avoid  the  infection ;  whereas,  if  we  are  not 
genuine  Americans,  there  will  be  nothing  to  infect 
them  with,  and  no  amount  of  teaching,  no  amount  of 
exposition  of  the  Constitution, — which  I  find  very  few 
persons  understand, — no  amount  of  dwelling  upon  the 


92  Democracy    Today 

idea  of  liberty  and  of  justice  will  accomplish  the  object 
we  have  in  view,  unless  we  ourselves  illustrate  the  idea 
of  justice  and  of  liberty.  My  interest  in  this  move- 
ment is,  therefore,  a  two-fold  interest.  I  believe  it  will 
assist  us  to  become  self-conscious  in  respect  of  the 
fundamental  ideas  of  American  life.  When  you  ask 
a  man  to  be  loyal  to  a  government,  if  he  comes  from 
some  foreign  countries,  his  idea  is  that  he  is  expected 
to  be  loyal  to  a  certain  set  of  persons  like  a  ruler  or 
a  body  set  in  authority  over  him,  but  that  is  not  the 
American  idea.  Our  idea  is  that  he  is  to  be  loyal 
to  certain  objects  in  life,  and  that  the  only  reason  he 
has  a  President  and  a  Congress  and  a  Governor  and  a 
State  Legislature  and  courts  is  that  the  community 
shall  have  instrumentalities  by  which  to  promote  those 
objects.  It  is  a  cooperative  organization  expressing 
itself  in  this  Constitution,  expressing  itself  in  these 
laws,  intending  to  express  itself  in  the  exposition  of 
those  laws  by  the  courts;  and  the  idea  of  America  is 
not  so  much  that  men  are  to  be  restrained  and  pun- 
ished by  the  law  as  instructed  and  guided  by  the  law. 
That  is  the  reason  so  many  hopeful  reforms  come  to 
grief.  A  law  cannot  work  until  it  expresses  the  spirit 
of  the  community  for  which  it  is  enacted,  and  if  you 
try  to  enact  into  law  what  expresses  only  the  spirit 
of  a  small  coterie  or  of  a  small  minority,  you  know, 
or  at  any  rate  you  ought  to  know,  beforehand  that  it 
is  not  going  to  work.  The  object  of  the  law  is  that 
there,  written  upon  these  pages,  the  citizen  should 
read  the  record  of  the  experience  of  this  state  and 
nation ;  what  they  have  concluded  it  is  necessary  for 


The    School    of    Citizenship  93 

them  to  do  because  of  the  life  they  have  lived  and 
the  things  that  they  have  discovered  to  be  elements 
in  that  life.  So  that  we  ought  to  be  careful  to  main- 
tain a  government  at  which  the  immigrant  can  look 
with  the  closest  scrutiny  and  to  which  he  should  be 
at  liberty  to  address  this  question:  "You  declare 
this  to  be  a  land  of  liberty  and  of  equality  and  of 
justice ;  have  you  made  it  so  by  your  law  ? ' '  We  ought 
to  be  able  in  our  schools,  in  our  night  schools,  and  in 
every  other  method  of  instructing  these  people,  to 
show  them  that  that  has  been  our  endeavor.  We  can- 
not conceal  from  them  long  the  fact  that  we  are  just  as 
human  as  any  other  nation,  that  we  are  just  as  selfish, 
that  there  are  just  as  many  mean  people  amongst  us  as 
anywhere  else,  that  there  are  just  as  many  people 
here  who  want  to  take  advantage  of  other  people  as 
you  can  find  in  other  countries,  just  as  many  cruel 
people,  just  as  many  people  heartless  when  it  comes 
to  maintaining  and  promoting  their  own  interest ;  but 
you  can  show  that  our  object  is  to  get  these  people 
in  harness  and  see  to  it  that  they  do  not  do  any 
damage  and  are  not  allowed -to  indulge  the  passions 
which  would  bring  injustice  and  calamity  at  last  upon 
a  nation  whose  object  is  spiritual  and  not  material. 

America  has  built  up  a  great  body  of  wealth. 
America  has  become,  from  the  physical  point  of  view, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  nations  in  the  world,  a  nation 
which  if  it  took  the  pains  to  do  so,  could  build  that 
power  up  into  one  of  the  most  formidable  instruments 
in  the  world,  one  of  the  most  formidable  instruments 
of  force,  but  which  has  no  other  idea  than  to  use  its 


94  Democracy    Today 

force  for  ideal  objects  and  not  for  self-aggrandize- 
ment. 

We  have  been  disturbed  recently,  my  fellow-citizens, 
by  certain  symptoms  which  have  showed  themselves 
in  our  body  politic.  Certain  men, — I  have  never  be- 
lieved a  great  number, — bom  in  other  lands,  have  in 
recent  months  thought  more  of  those  lands  than  they 
have  of  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  government 
under  which  they  are  now  living.  They  have  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  draw  apart  in  spirit  and  in  organiza- 
tion from  the  rest  of  us  to  accomplish  some  special 
object  of  their  own.^  I  am  not  here  going  to  utter  any 
criticism  of  these  people,  but  I  want  to  say  this,  that 
such  a  thing  as  that  is  absolutely  incompatible  with 
the  fundamental  idea  of  loyalty,  and  that  loyalty  is 
not  a  self-pleasing  virtue.  I  am  not  bound  to  be  loyal 
to  the  United  States  to  please  myself.  I  am  bound  to 
be  loyal  to  the  United  States  because  I  live  under  its 
laws  and  am  its  citizen,  and  whether  it  hurts  me  or 
whether  it  benefits  me,  I  am  obliged  to  be  loyal. 
Loyalty  means  nothing  unless  it  has  at  its  heart  the 
absolute  principle  of  self-sacrifice.  Loyalty  means 
that  you  ought  to  be  ready  to  sacrifice  every  interest 
that  you  have,  and  your  life  itself,  if  your  country 
calls  upon  you  to  do  so,  and  that  is  the  sort  of  loyalty 
which  ought  to  be  inculcated  into  these  newcomers, 
that  they  are  not  to  be  loyal  only  so  long  as  they  are 
pleased,  but  that,  having  once  entered  into  this  sacred 
relationship,  they  are  bound  to  be  loyal  whether  they 
are  pleased  or  not ;  and  that  loyalty  which  is  merely 
self-pleasing  is  only  self-indulgence  and  selfishness. 


The  School  of  Citizenship  95 

No  man  has  ever  risen  to  the  real  stature  of  spiritual 
manhood  until  he  has  found  that  it  is  finer  to  serve 
somebody  else  than  it  is  to  serve  himself. 

These  are  the  conceptions  which  we  ought  to  teach 
the  newcomers  into  our  midst,  and  we  ought  to  realize 
that  the  life  of  every  one  of  us  is  part  of  the  schooling, 
and  that  we  cannot  preach  loyalty  unless  we  set  the 
example,  that  we  cannot  profess  things  with  any  in- 
fluence upon  others  unless  we  practice  them  also. 
This  process  of  Americanization  is  going  to  be  a  pro- 
cess of  self-examination,  a  process  of  purification,  a 
process  of  rededication  to  the  things  which  America 
represents  and  is  proud  to  represent.  And  it  takes 
a  great  deal  more  courage  and  steadfastness,  my  fel- 
low-citizens, to  represent  ideal  things  than  to  repre- 
sent anything  else.  It  is  easy  to  lose  your  temper, 
and  hard  to  keep  it.  It  is  easy  to  strike  and  some- 
times very  difficult  to  refrain  from  striking,  and  I 
think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  we  are  most  justi- 
fied in  being  proud  of  doing  the  things  that  are  hard 
to  do  and  not  the  things  that  are  easy.  You  do  not 
settle  things  quickly  by  taking  what  seems  to  be  the 
quickest  way  to  settle  them.  You  may  make  the  com- 
plication just  that  much  the  more  profound  and  in- 
extricable, and,  therefore,  what  I  believe  America 
should  exalt  above  everything  else  is  the  sovereignty 
of  thougbtfulness  and  sympathy  and  vision  as  against 
the  grosser  impulses  of  mankind.  No  nation  can  live 
without  vision,  and  no  vision  will  exalt  a  nation  except 
the  vision  of  real  liberty  and  real  justice  and  purity 
of  conduct. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  on  the  occasion  op  the  accept- 
ance BY  the  war  department  OP  THE  GIFT  TO 
THE  nation  op  THE  LINCOLN  BIRTHPLACE 
FARM  AT  HODGENVILLE,  KENTUCKY, 
SEPTEMBER  4,    1916.] 

No  more  significant  memorial  could  have  been  pre- 
sented to  the  nation  than  this.  It  expresses  so  much 
of  what  is  singular  and  noteworthy  in  the  history  of 
the  country ;  it  suggests  so  many  of  the  things  that  we 
prize  most  highly  in  our  life  and  in  our  system  of 
government.  How  eloquent  this  little  house  within 
this  shrine  is  of  the  vigor  of  democracy!  There  is 
nowhere  in  the  land  any  home  so  remote,  so  humble, 
that  it  may  not  contain  the  power  of  mind  and  heart 
and  conscience  to  which  nations  yield  and  history  sub- 
mits its  processes.  Nature  pays  no  tribute  to  aristoc- 
racy, subscribes  to  no  creed  of  caste,  renders  fealty  to 
no  monarch  or  master  of  any  name  or  kind.  Genius 
is  no  snob.  It  does  not  run  after  titles  or  seek  by 
preference  the  high  circles  of  society.  It  affects 
humble  company  as  well  as  great.  It  pays  no  special 
tribute  to  universities  or  learned  societies  or  conven- 
tional standards  of  greatness,  but  serenely  chooses 
its  own  comrades,  its  own  haunts,  its  own  cradle  even, 
and  its  own  life  and  adventure  and  of  training.     Here 

96 


Abraham  Lincoln  97 

is  proof  of  it.  This  little  hut  was  the  cradle  of  one 
of  the  great  sons  of  men,  a  man- of  singular,  delightful, 
vital  genius  who  presently  emerged  upon  the  great 
stage  of  the  nation 's  history,  gaunt,  shy,  ungainly,  but 
dominant  and  majestic,  a  natural  ruler  of  men,  him- 
self inevitably  the  central  figure  of  the  great  plot.  No 
man  can  explain  this,  but  every  man  can  see  how  it 
demonstrates  the  vigor  of  democracy,  where  every 
door  is  open,  in  every  hamlet  and  countryside,  in  city 
^nd  wilderness  alike,  for  the  ruler  to  emerge  when  he 
will  and  claim  his  leadership  in  the  free  life.  Such 
are  the  authentic  proofs  of  the  validity  and  vitality 
of  democracy. 

Here,  no  less,  hides  the  mystery  of  democracy. 
Who  shall  guess  this  secret  of  nature  and  providence 
and  a  free  polity?  Whatever  the  vigor  and  vitality 
of  the  stock  from  which  he  sprang,  its  mere  vigor  and 
soundness  do  not  explain  where  this  man  got  his  great 
heart  that  seemed  to  comprehend  all  mankind  in  its 
catholic  and  benignant  sympathy,  the  mind  that  sat 
enthroned  behind  those  brooding,  melancholy  eyes, 
whose  vision  swept  many  an  horizon  which  those  about 
him  dreamed  not  of, — that  mind  that  comprehended 
what  it  had  never  seen,  and  understood  the  language 
of  affairs  with  the  ready  ease  of  one  to  the  manner 
born, —  or  that  nature  which  seemed  in  its  varied  rich- 
ness to  be  the  familiar  of  men  of  every  way  of  life. 
This  is  the  sacred  mystery  of  democracy;  that  its 
richest  fruits  spring  uff  out  of  soils  which  no  man  he^ 
prepared  and  in  circumstances  amidst  which  they  an 
the  least  expected.  This  is  a  place  alike  of  mysterj 
and  of  reassurance. 


98  Democracy    Today 

It  is  likely  that  in  a  society  ordered  otherwise  than 
our  own  Lincoln  could  not  have  found  himself  or  the 
path  of  fame  and  power  upon  which  he  walked 
serenely  to  his  death.  In  this  place  it  is  right  that  we 
should  remind  ourselves  of  the  solid  and  striking  facts 
upon  which  our  faith  in  democracy  is  founded.  Many 
another  man  besides  Lincoln  has  served  the  nation  in 
its  highest  places  of  counsel  and  of  action  whose 
origins  were  as  humble  as  his.  Though  the  greatest 
example  of  the  universal  energy,  richness,  stimulation, 
and  force  of  democracy,  he  is  only  one  example  among 
many.  The  permeating  and  all-pervasive  virtue  of 
the  freedom  which  challenges  us  in  America  to  make 
the  most  of  every  gift  and  power  we  possess  every 
page  of  our  history  serves  to  emphasize  and  illustrate. 
Standing  here  in  this  place,  it  seems  almost  the  whole 
of  the  stirring  story. 

Here  Lincoln  had  his  beginnings.  Here  the  end 
and  consummation  of  that  great  life  seem  remote  and 
a  bit  incredible.  And  yet  there  was  no  break  any- 
where between  beginning  and  end,  no  lack  of  natural 
sequence  anywhere.  Nothing  really  incredible  hap- 
pened. Lincoln  was  unaffectedly  as  much  at  home 
in  the  White  House  as  he  was  here.  Do  you  share 
with  me  the  feeling,  I  wonder,  that  he  v/as  perma- 
nently at  home  nowhere?  It  seems  to  me  that  in  the 
case  of  a  man, — I  would  rather  say  of  a  spirit, — like 
Lincoln  the  question  where  he  was  is  of  little  signifi- 
cance, that  it  is  always  what  he  was  that  really  arrests 
our  thought  and  takes  hold  of  our  imagination.  It  is 
the  spirit  always  that  is  sovereign.    Lincoln,  like  the 


Abraham   Lincoln  99 

rest  of  us,  was  put  through  the  discipline  of  the 
world, — a  very  rough  and  exacting  discipline  for  him, 
an  indispensable  discipline  for  every  man  who  would 
know  what  he  is  about  in  the  midst  of  the  world's 
affairs ;  but  his  spirit  got  only  its  schooling  there.  It 
did  not  derive  its  character  or  its  vision  from  the 
experiences  which  brought  it  to  its  full  revelation. 
The  test  of  every  American  must  always  be,  not  where 
he  is,  but  what  he  is.  That,  also,  is  of  the  essence  of 
democracy,  and  is  the  moral  of  which  this  place  is 
most  gravely  expressive. 

We  would  like  to  think  of  men  like  Lincoln  and 
Washington  as  typical  Amef  leans,  but  no  man  can  be 
typical  who  is  so  unusual  as  these  great  men  were. 
It  was  typical  of  American  life  that  it  should  produce 
such  men  with  supreme  indifference  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  it  produced  them,  and  as  readily  here  in  this 
hut  as  amidst  the  little  circle  of  cultivated  gentlemen 
to  whom  Virginia  owed  so  much  in  leadership  and 
example.  And  Lincoln  and  Washington  were  typical 
Americans  in  the  use  they  made  of  their  genius.  But 
there  will  be  few  such  men  at  best,  and  we  will  not 
look  into  the  mystery  of  how  and  why  they  come. 
We  will  only  keep  the  door  open  for  them  always, 
and  a  hearty  welcome, — after  we  have  recognized 
them. 

I  have  read  many  biographies  of  Lincoln;  I  have 
sought  out  with  the  greatest  interest  the  many  inti- 
mate stories  that  are  told  of  him,  the  narratives  of 
nearby  friends,  the  sketches  at  close  quarters,  in 
which  those  who  had  the  privilege  of  being  associated 


100  Democracy    Today 

with  him  have  tried  to  depict  for  us  the  very  man 
himself  "in  his  habit  as  he  lived "^;  but  I  have 
nowhere  found  a  real  intimate  of  Lincoln's.  I 
nowhere  get  the  impression  in  any  narrative  or  rem- 
iniscence that  the  writer  had  in  fact  penetrated  to  the 
heart  of  his  mystery,  or  that  any  man  could  penetrate 
to  the  heart  of  it.  That  brooding  spirit  had  no  real 
familiars.  I  get  the  impression  that  it  never  spoke 
out  in  complete  self -revelation,  and  that  it  could  not 
reveal  itself  completely  to  anyone.  It  was  a  very 
lonely  spirit  that  looked  out  from  underneath  those 
shaggy  brows  and  comprehended  men  without  fully 
communing  with  them,  as  if,  in  spite  of  all  its  genial 
efforts  at  comradeship,  it  dwelt  apart,  saw  its  visions 
of  duty  where  no  man  looked  on.  There  is  a  very 
holy  and  very  terrible  isolation  for  the  conscience  of 
every  man  who  seeks  to  read  the  destiny  in  affairs  for 
others  as  well  as  for  himself,  for  a  nation  as  well  as 
for  individuals.  That  privacy  no  man  can  intrude 
upon.  That  lonely  search  of  the  spirit  for  the  right 
perhaps  no  man  can  assist.  This  strange  child  of  the 
cabin  kept  company  with  invisible  things,  was  born 
into  no  intimacy  but  that  of  its  own  silently  assemb- 
ling and  deploying  thoughts. 

I  have  come  here  today,  not  to  utter  a  eulogy  on 
Lincoln;  he  stands  in  need  of  none,  but  to  endeavor 
to  interpret  the  meaning  of  this  gift  to  the  nation  of 
the  place  of  his  birth  and  origin.  Is  not  this  an  altar 
upon  which  we  may  forever  keep  alive  the  vestal  fire 
of  democracy  as  upon  a  shrine  at  which  some  of  the 
deepest  and  most  sacred  hopes  of  mankind  may  from 


Ahraham  Lincoln  101 

age  to  age  be  rekindled?  For  these  hopes  must  con- 
stantly be  rekindled,  and  only  those  who  live  can 
rekindle  them.  The  only  stuff  that  can  retain  the 
life-giving  heat  is  the  stuff  of  living  hearts.  And  the 
hopes  of  mankind  cannot  be  kept  alive  by  words 
merely,  by  constitutions  and  doctrines  of  right  and 
codes  of  liberty.  The  object  of  democracy  is  to 
transmute  these  into  the  life  and  action  of  society, 
the  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  of  heroic  men  and 
women  willing  to  make  their  lives  an  embodiment  of 
right  and  service  and  enlightened  purpose.  The  com- 
mands of  democracy  are  as  imperative  as  its  privi' 
leges  and  opportunities  are  wide  and  generous.  Its 
compulsion  is  upon  us.  It  will  be  great  and  lift  a 
great  light  for  the  guidance  of  the  nations  only  if  we 
are  great  and  carry  that  light  high  for  the  guidance 
of  our  own  feet.  We  are  not  worthy  to  stand  here 
unless  we  ourselves  be  in  deed  and  in  truth  real 
democrats  and  servants  of  mankind,  ready  to  give 
our  very  lives  for  the  freedom  and  justice  and  spir- 
itual exaltation  of  the  great  nation  which  shelters  and 
nurtures  us. 


A  WORLD  LEAGUE  FOR  PEACES 

WooDEOw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  before  the  senate  of  the  united 
states,  january  22,  1917.] 

On  the  18th  of  December  last  I  addressed  an  identic 
note  to  the  Governments  of  the  nations  now  at  war, 
requesting  them  to  state,  more  definitely  than  they 
had  yet  been  stated  by  either  group  of  belligerents, 
the  terms  upon  which  they  would  deem  it  possible  to 
make  peace.  I  spoke  on  behalf  of  humanity  and  of  the 
rights  of  all  neutral  nations  like  our  own,  many  of 
whose  most  vital  interests  the  war  puts  in  constant 
jeopardy. 

The  Central  Powers  united  in  a  reply  which  stated 
merely  that  they  were  ready  to  meet  their  antagonists 
in  conference  to  discuss  terms  of  peace. 

The  Entente  Powers  have  replied  much  more  defi- 
nitely and  have  stated,  in  general  terms,  indeed,  but 
with  sufficient  definiteness  to  imply  details,  the 
arrangements,  guarantees,  and  acts  of  reparation 
which  they  deem  to  be  the  indispensable  conditions  of 
a  satisfactory  settlement. 

We  are  that  much  nearer  a  definite  discussion  of  the 
peace  which  shall  end  the  present  war.  We  are  that 
much  nearer  the  discussion  of  the  international  con- 
cert which  must  thereafter  hold  the  world  at  peace. 

102 


A    ^orld   League    for   Peace  103 

In  every  discussion  of  the  peace  that  must  end  this 
war  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  that  peace  must  be 
followed  by  some  definite  concert  of  power  which  will 
make  it  virtually  impossible  that  any  such  catastrophe 
should  ever  overwhelm  us  again.  Every  lover  of  man- 
kind, every  sane  and  thoughtful  man,  must  take  that 
for  granted. 

I  have  sought  this  opportunity  to  address  you 
because  I  thought  that  I  owed  it  to  you,  as  the  council 
associated  with  me  in  the  final  determination  of  our 
international  obligations,  to  disclose  to  you,  without 
reserve,  the  thought  and  purpose  that  have  been 
taking  form  in  my  mind  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  our 
Government  in  these  days  to  come  when  it  will  be 
necessary  to  lay  afresh  and  upon  a  new  plan  the  foun- 
dations of  peace  among  the  nations. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  should  play  no  part  in  that  great  enterprise. 
To  take  part  in  such  a  service  will  be  the  opportunity 
for  which  they  have  sought  to  prepare  themselves  by 
the  very  principles  and  purposes  of  their  polity  and 
the  approved  practices  of  their  Government,  ever 
since  the  days  when  they  set  up  a  new  nation  in  the 
high  and  honorable  hope  that  it  might  in  all  that  it 
was  and  did  show  mankind  the  way  to  liberty. 

They  cannot,  in  honor,  withhold  the  service  to 
which  they  are  now  about  to  be  challenged.  They  do 
not  wish  to  withhold  it.  But  they  owe  it  to  themselves 
and  to  the  other  nations  of  the  world  to  state  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  will  feel  free  to  render  it. 

That  service  is  nothing  less  than,  this — to  add  their 


104  Democracy    Today 

authority  and  their  power  to  the  authority  and  force 
of  other  nations  to  guarantee  peace  and  justice 
throughout  the  world.  Such  a  settlement  cannot  now 
be  long  postponed.  It  is  right  that  before  it  comes 
this  Government  should  frankly  formulate  the  condi- 
tions upon  which  it  would  feel  justified  in  asking  our 
people  to  approve  its  formal  and  solemn  adherence  to 
a  league  for  peace.  I  am  here  to  attempt  to  state  those 
conditions. 

The  present  war  must  first  be  ended ;  but  we  owe  it 
to  candor  and  to  a  just  regard  for  the  opinion  of  man- 
kind to  say  that  so  far  as  our  participation  in  guaran- 
tees Of  future  peace  is  concerned  it  makes  a  great  deal 
of  difference  in  what  way  and  upon  what  terms  it  is 
ended. 

The  treaties  and  agreements  which  bring  it  to  an 
end  must  embody  terms  which  will  create  a  peace  that 
is  worth  guaranteeing  and  preserving,  a  peace  that 
will  win  the  approval  of  mankind ;  not  merely  a  peace 
that  will  serve  the  several  interests  and  immediate 
aims  of  the  nations  engaged. 

We  shall  have  no  voice  in  determining  what  those 
terms  shall  be,  but  we  shall,  I  feel  sure,  have  a  voice 
in  determining  whether  they  shall  be  made  lasting  or 
not  by  the  guarantees  of  a  universal  covenant,  and 
our  judgment  upon  what  is  fundamental  and  essen- 
tial as  a  condition  precedent  to  permanency  should  be 
spoken  now,  not  afterward,  when  it  may  be  too  late. 

No  covenant  of  cooperative  peace  that  does  not 
include  the  peoples  of  the  New  World  can  suffice  to 
keep  the  future  safe  against  war,  and  yet  there  is  only 


A    World   League   for   Peace  105 

one  sort  of  peace  that  the  peoples  of  America  could 
join  in  guaranteeing. 

The  elements  of  that  peace  must  be  elements  that 
engage  the  confidence  and  satisfy  the  principles  of  the 
American  Governments,  elements  consistent  with  their 
political  faith  and  the  practical  convictions  which  the 
peoples  of  America  have  once  for  all  embraced  and 
undertaken  to  defend. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  any  American  Govern- 
ment would  throw  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  any 
terms  of  peace  the  Governments  now  at  war  might 
agree  upon,  or  seek  to  upset  them  when  made,  what- 
ever they  might  be.  I  only  take  it  for  granted  that 
mere  terms  of  peace  between  the  belligerents  will  not 
satisfy  even  the  belligerents  themselves.^ 

Mere  agreements  may  not  make  peace  secure.  It 
will  be  absolutely  necessary  that  a  force  be  created  as 
a  guarantor  of  the  permanency  of  the  settlement  so 
much  greater  than  the  force  of  any  nation  now 
engaged  in  any  alliance  hitherto  formed  or  projected 
that  no  nation,' no  probable  combination  of  nations, 
could  face  or  withstand  it. 

If  the  peace  presently  to  be  made  is  to  endure  it 
must  be  a  peace  made  secure  by  the  organized  major 
force  of  mankind. 

The  terms  of  the  immediate  peace  agreed  upon  will 
determine  whether  it  is  a  peace  for  which  such  a  guar- 
antee can  be  secured.  The  question  upon  which  the 
whole  future  peace  and  policy  of  the  world  depends  is 
this: 


106  Democracy    Today 

Is  the  present  war  a  stru^le  for  a  just  and  secure 
peace  or  only  for  a  new  balance  of  power?  If  it  be 
only  a  struggle  for  a  new  balance  of  power,^  who  will 
guarantee,  who  can  guarantee,  the  stable  equilibrium 
of  the  new  arrangement  ? 

Only  a  tranquil  Europe  can  be  a  stable  Europe. 
There  must  be  not  only  a  balance  of  power,  but  a 
community  of  power;  not  organized  rivalries,  but  an 
organized  common  peace. 

Fortunately,  we  have  received  very  explicit  assur- 
ances on  this  point.  The  statesmen  of  both  of  the 
groups  of  nations  now  arrayed  against  one  another 
have  said,  in  terms  that  could  not  be  misinterpreted, 
that  it  was  no  part  of  the  purpose  they  had  in  mind 
to  crush  their  antagonists.  But  the  implications  of 
these  assurances  may  not  be  equally  clear  to  all — may 
not  be  the  same  on  both  sides  of  the  water.  I  think 
it  will  be  serviceable  if  I  attempt  to  set  forth  what 
we  understand  them  to  be. 

They  imply,  first  of  all,  that  it  must  be  a  peace 
without  victory.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  say  this.  I 
beg  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  put  my  own  interpre- 
tation upon  it  and  that  it  may  be  understood  that  no 
other  interpretation  was  in  my  thought.* 

I  am  seeking  only  to  face  realities  and  to  face  them 
without  soft  concealments.  Victory  would  mean 
peace  forced  upon  the  loser,  a  victor's  terms  imposed 
upon  the  vanquished.  It  would  be  accepted  in  humil- 
iation, under  duress,  at  an  intolerable  sacrifice,  and 
would  leave  a  sting,  a  resentment,  a  bitter  memory, 


A    y^orld   League    for    Peace  107 

upon  which  terms  of  peace  would  rest,  not  per- 
manently, but  only  as  upon  quicksand. 

Only  a  peace  between  equals  can  last;  only  a  peace 
the  very  principle  of  which  is  equality  and  a  common 
participation  in  a  common  benefit.  The  right  state  of 
mind,  the  right  feeling  between  nations,  is  as  neces- 
sary for  a  lasting  peace  as  is  the  just  settlement  of 
questions  of  territory  or  of  racial  and  national  alle- 
giance. 

The  equality  of  nations  upon  which  peace  must  be 
founded,  if  it  is  to  last,  must  be  an  equality  of  rights; 
the  guarantees  exchanged  must  neither  recognize  nor 
imply  a  difference  between  big  nations  and  small,  be- 
tween those  that  are  powerful  and  those  that  are  weak.^ 

Right  must  be  based  upon  the  common  strength, 
not  upon  the  individual  strength,  of  the  nations  upon 
whose  concert  peace  will  depend. 

Equality  of  territory  or  of  resources  there,  of 
course,  cannot  be ;  nor  any  other  sort  of  equality  not 
gained  in  the  ordinary  peaceful  and  legitimate  devel- 
opment of  the  peoples  themselves.  But  no  one  asks 
or  expects  any  thing  more  than  an  equality  of  rights. 
Mankind  is  looking  now  for  freedom  of  life,  not  for 
equipoises  of  power. 

And  there  is  a  deeper  thing  involved  than  even 
equality  of  rights  among  organized  nations.  No 
peace  can  last,  or  ought  to  last,  which  does  not  recog- 
nize and  accept  the  principle  that  Governments  derive 
all  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned,® and  that  no  right  anywhere  exists  to  hand 


108  Democracy    Today 

people  about  from  sovereignty  to  sovereignty  as  if 
they  were  property. 

I  take  it  for  granted,  for  instance,  if  I  may  venture 
upon  a  single  example,  that  statesmen  everywhere  are 
agreed  that  there  should  be  a  united,  independent, 
and  autonomous  Poland,  and  that  henceforth  invio- 
lable security  of  life,  of  worship,  and  of  industrial 
and  social  development  should  be  guaranteed  to  all 
peoples  who  have  lived  hitherto  under  the  power  of 
Governments  devoted  to  a  faith  and  purpose  hostile 
to  their  own. 

I  speak  of  this,  not  because  of  any  desire  to  exalt 
an  abstract  political  principle  which  has  always  been 
held  very  dear  by  those  who  have  sought  to  build  up 
liberty  in  America,  but  for  the  same  reason  that  I  have 
spoken  of  the  other  conditions  of  peace  which  seem 
to  me  clearly  indispensable — ^because  I  wish  frankly 
to  uncover  realities. 

Any  peace  which  does  not  recognize  and  accept 
this  principle  will  inevitably  be  upset.  It  will  not 
rest  upon  the  a^ections  or  the  convictions  of  mankind. 
The  ferment  of  spirit  of  whole  populations  will  fight 
subtly  and  constantly  against  it,  and  all  the  world 
will  sympathize.  The  world  can  be  at  peace  only  if 
its  life  is  stable,  and  there  can  be  no  stability  where 
the  will  is  in  rebellion,  where  there  is  not  tranquillity 
of  spirit  and  a  sense  of  justice,  of  freedom,  and  of 
right. 

So  far  as  practicable,  moreover,  every  great  people 
now  struggling  toward  a  full  development  of  its  re- 
sources and  of  its  powers  should  be  assured  a  direct 


A    World   League   for   Peace  109 

outlet  to  the  great  highways  of  the  sea.  Where  this 
cannot  be  done  by  the  cession  of  territory,  it  can  no 
doubt  be  done  by  the  neutralization  of  direct  rights 
of  way  under  the  general  guarantee  which  will  assure 
the  peace  itself.  With  a  right  comity  of  arrangement 
no  nation  need  be  shut  away  from  free  access  to  the 
open  paths  of  the  world's  commerce. 

And  the  paths  of  the  sea  must  alike  in  law  and  in 
fact  be  free.  The  freedom  of  the  seas  is  the  sine  qua 
non  of  peace,  equality,  and  cooperation.'^ 

No  doubt  a  somewhat  radical  reconsideration  of 
many  of  the  rules  of  international  practice  hitherto 
sought  to  be  established  may  be  necessary  in  order  to 
make  the  seas  indeed  free  and  common  in  practically 
all  circumstances  for  the  use  of  mankind,  but  the 
motive  for  such  changes  is  convincing  and  compelling. 
There  can  be  no  trust  or  intimacy  between  the  peoples 
of  the  world  without  them. 

The  free,  constant,  unthreatened  intercourse  of 
nations  is  an  essential  part  of  the  process  of  peace  and 
of  development.  It  need  not  be  difficult  to  define  or 
to  secure,  the  freedom  of  the  seas  if  the  Governments 
of  the  world  sincerely  desire  to  come  to  an  agreement 
concerning  it. 

It  is  a  problem  closely  connected  with  the  limita- 
tion of  naval  armaments  and  the  cooperation  of  the 
navies  of  the  world  in  keeping  the  seas  at  once  free 
and  safe.  And  the  question  of  limiting  naval  arma- 
ments opens  the  wider  and  perhaps  more  difficult 
question  of  the  limitation  of  armies  and  of  all  pro- 
grams of  military  preparation. 


110  Semocracy    Today 

Difficult  and  delicate  as  these  questions  are,  they 
must  be  faced  with  the  utmost  candor  and  decided  in 
a  spirit  of  real  accommodation  if  peace  is  to  come 
with  healing  in  its  wings  and  come  to  stay.  Peace 
cannot  be  had  without  concession  and  sacrifice.  There 
can  be  no  ser.se  of  safety  and  equality  among  the  na- 
tions if  great  preponderating  armies  are  henceforth 
to  continue  here  and  there  to  be  built  up  and  main- 
tained. 

The  st-atesmen  of  the  woi-Id  must  plan  for  peace, 
and  nations  must  adjust  and  accommodate  their  policy 
to  it  as  they  have  planned  for  war  and  made  ready 
for  pitiless  contest  and  rivalry.  The  question  of  arm- 
aments, whether  on  land  or  sea,  is  the  most  immedi- 
ately and  intensely  practical  question  connected  with 
the  future  fortunes  of  nations  and  of  mankind. 

I  have  spoken  upon  these  great  matters  without 
reserve  and  with  the  utmost  explicitness  because  it  has 
seemed  to  me  to  be  necessary  if  the  world's  yearning 
desire  for  peace  was  anywhere  to  find  free  voice  and 
utterance.  Perhaps  I  am  the  only  person  in  high 
authority  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  world  who  is  at 
liberty  to  speak  and  hold  nothing  back. 

I  am  speaking  as  an  individual,  and  yet  I  am  speak- 
ing also,  of  course,  as  the  responsible  head  of  a  great 
Government,  and  I  feel  confident  that  I  have  said 
what  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  wish  me  to 
say.  May  I  not  add  that  I  hope  and  believe  that  I 
am  in  effect  speaking  for  liberals  and  friends  of 
humanity  in  every  nation  and  of  every  program  of 
liberty  ? 


A    World   League   for   Peace  111 

I  would  fain  believe  that  I  am  speaking  for  the 
silent  mass  of  mankind  everywhere  who  have  as  yet 
had  no  place  or  opportunity  to  speak  their  real  hearts 
out  concerning  the  death  and  ruin  they  see  to  have 
come  already  upon  the  persons  and  the  homes  they 
hold  most  dear. 

And  in  holding  out  the  expectation  that  the  people 
and  Government  of  the  United  States  will  join  the 
other  civilized  nations  of  the  world  in  guaranteeing 
the  permanence  of  peace  upon  such  terms  as  I  have 
named,  I  speak  with  the  greater  boldness  and  confi- 
dence because  it  is  clear  to  every  man  who  can  think 
that  there  is  in  this  promise  no  breach  in  either  our 
traditions  or  our  policy  as  a  nation,  but  a  fulfilment, 
rather,  of  all  that  we  have  professed  or  striven  for. 

I  am  proposing,  as  it  were,  that  the  nations  should 
with  one  accord  adopt  the  doctrine  of  President  Mon- 
roe as  the  doctrine  of  the  world  f  that  no  nation 
should  seek  to  extend  its  policy  over  any  other  nation 
or  people,  but  that  every  people  should  be  left  free  to 
determine  its  own  policy,  its  own  way  of  development, 
unhindered,  unthreatened,  unafraid,  the  little  along 
with  the  great  and  powerful. 

I  am  proposing  that  all  nations  henceforth  avoid 
entangling  alliances  which  would  draw  them  into  com- 
petitions of  power,  catch  them  in  a  net  of  intrigue 
and  selfish  rivalry,  and  disturb  their  own  affairs  with 
influences  intruded  from  without.  There  is  no  en- 
tangling alliance  in  a  concert  of  power.  When  all 
unite  to  act  in  the  same  sense  and  with  the  same  pur- 
pose, all  act  in  the  common  interest  and  are  free  to 


112  Democracy    Today 

live  their  own  lives  under  a  common  protection. 

I  am  proposing  government  by  the  consent  of  the 
governed;  that  freedom  of  the  seas  which  in  inter- 
national conference  after  conference  representatives 
of  the  United  States  have  urged  with  the  eloquence 
of  those  who  are  the  convinced  disciples  of  liberty; 
and  that  moderation  of  armaments  which  makes  of 
armies  and  navies  a  power  for  order  merely,  not  an 
instrument  of  aggression  or  of  selfish  violence. 

These  are  American  principles,  American  policies. 
AVe  can  stand  for  no  others.  And  they  are  also  the 
principles  and  policies  of  forward-looking  men  and 
women  everywhere,  of  every  modern  nation,  of  every 
enlightened  community.  They  are  the  principles  of 
mankind,  and  must  prevail.^ 


MESSAGE    TO    CONGRESS 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[delivered  before  congress  FEBRUARY  3,  1917,  ON  THE 

OCCASION  OF   SEVERING   DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS 

WITH  GERMANY.] 

The  Imperial  German  Government,  on  the  31st  of 
January,  announced  to  this  Government  and  to  the 
Governments  of  the  other  neutral  nations  that  on 
and  after  the  first  day  of  February,  the  present  month, 
it  would  adopt  a  policy  with  regard  to  the  use  of  sub- 
marines against  all  shipping  seeking  to  pass  through 
certain  designated  areas  of  the  high  seas  to  which  it 
is  clearly  my  duty  to  call  your  attention. 

Let  me  remind  the  Congress  that  on  the  18th  of 
April  last,  in  view  of  the  sinking  on  the  24th  of  March 
of  the  cross-Channel  passenger-steamer  Sussex  by  a 
German  submarine,  without  summons  or  warning,  and 
the  consequent  loss  of  the  lives  of  several  citizens  of 
the  United  States  who  were  passengers  aboard  her^ 
this  Government  addressed  a  note  to  the  Imperial 
German  Government  in  which  it  made  the  following 
declaration : 

If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
tq  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against  ves- 
sels of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines  without  regard  to 
what  the  Government  of  the  United  States  must  consider  the 
sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  international  law  and  the  uni- 

113 


114  Democracy    Today 

/ersally  recognized  dictates  of  humanity,  the  Grovernment  of  the 
United  States  is  at  last  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
but  one  course  it  can  pursue.  Unless  the  German  Government 
should  now  immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of 
its  present  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger  and 
freight-carrying  vessels  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the 
German  Empire  altogether. 

In  reply  to  this  declaration  the  Grerman  Govern- 
ment gave  this  Government  the  following  assurances : 

The  German  Government  is  prepared  to  do  its  utmost  to  con- 
fine the  operations  of  war  for  the  r^t  of  its  duration  to  the 
fighting  forces  of  the  belligerents,  thereby  insuring  the  freedom 
of  the  seas,  a  principle  upon  which  the  German  Government 
believes,  now  as  before,  to  be  in  agreement  with  the  Government 
of  the  United  States. 

The  German  Government,  guided  by  this  idea,  notifies  the 
Government  of  the  'United  States  that  the  German  naval  forces 
have  received  the  following  orders: 

In  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and  search 
and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  recognized  by  international 
law,  such  vessels,  both  within  and  without  the  area  declared  as 
naval  war  zone,  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning  and  without 
saving  human  lives,  unless  these  ships  attempt  to  escape  or 
offer  resistance. 

But  neutrals  cannot  expect  that  Germany,  forced  to  fight  for 
her  existence,  shall,  for  the  sake  of  neutral  interest,  restrict  the 
use  of  an  effective  weapon  if  her  enemy  is  permitted  to  con- 
tinue to  apply  at  will  methods  of  warfare  violating  the  rules  of 
international  law.  Such  a  demand  would  be  incompatible  with 
the  character  of  neutrality,  and  the  German  Government  is  con- 
vinced that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  think 
of  making  such  a  demand,  knowing  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  repeatedly  declared  that  it  is  determined  to 
restore  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  from  whatever 
*'arter  it  has  been  violated. 


Message    to    Congress  115 

To  this  the  Government  of  the  United  States  replied 
on  the  8th  of  May,  accepting,  of  course,  the  assur- 
ances given,  but  adding : 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels'  it  necessary  to 
state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the  maintenance  of 
its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way  contingent  upon  the 
course  or  result  of  diplomatic  negotiations  between  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  and  any  other  belligerent  Govern- 
ment, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  certain  passages  in  the 
Imperial  Government 's  note  of  the  4th  instant  might  appear  to 
be  susceptible  to  that  construction.  In  order,  however,  to  avoid 
any  possible  misunderstanding,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  notifies  the  Imperial  Government  that  it  cannot  for  a 
moment  entertain,  much  less  discuss,  a  suggestion  that  respect 
by  German  naval  authorities  for  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  upon  the  high  seas  should  in  any  way  or  in  the 
slightest  degree  be  made  contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any 
other  Government  affecting  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  non- 
combatants.  Eesponsibility  in  such  matters  is  single,  not  joint ; 
absolute,  not  relative. 

To  this  note  of  the  8th  of  May  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  made  no  reply. 

On  the  31st  of  January,  the  "Wednesday  of  the 
present  week,  the  German  Ambassador  handed  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  along  with  a  formal  note,  a  mem- 
orandum which  contains  the  following  statement : 

The  Imperial  Government,  therefore,  does  not  doubt  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  wiU  understand  the  situation 
thus  forced  upon  Germany  by  the  Entente  Allies '  brutal  methods 
of  war  and  by  their  determination  to  destroy  the  Central  Powers, 
and  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  further 
realize  that  the  now  openly  disclosed  intentions  of  the  Entente 
Allies  give  back  to  Germany  the  freedom  of  action  which  she 


116  Democracy    Today 

reserved  in  her  note  addressed  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  on  May  4,  1916. 

Under  these  circumstances  Germany  will  meet  the  illegal 
measures  of  her  enemies  by  forcibly  preventing  after  February  1, 
1917,  in  a  zone  around  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy,  and  in  the 
eastern  Mediterranean  all  navigation,  that  of  neutrals  included, 
from  and  to  France,  etc.  All  ships  met  within  the  zone  will  be 
sunk. 

I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that,  in  view 
of  this  declaration,  which  suddenly  and  without  prior 
intimation  of  any  kind  deliberately  withdraws  the 
solemn  assurance  given  in  the  Imperial  Government's 
note  of  the  4th  of  May,  1916,  this  Government  has  no 
alternative  consistent  with  the  dignity  and  honor  of 
the  United  States  but  to  take  the  course  which,  in  its 
note  of  the  18th  of  April,  1916,  it  announced  that  it 
would  take  in  the  event  that  the  German  Government 
did  not  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  the 
methods  of  submarine  warfare  which  it  was  then  em- 
ploying and  to  which  it  now  purposes  again  to  resort. 

I  have,  therefore,  directed  the  Secretary  of  State 
to  announce  to  his  Excellency  the  German  ambassa- 
dor that  all  diplomatic  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  the  German  Empire  are  severed,  and  that 
the  American  ambassador  at  Berlin  will  immediately 
be  withdrawn,  and,  in  accordance  with  this  decision, 
to  hand  to  his  Excellency  his  passports. 

Notwithstanding  this  unexpected  action  of  the  Ger- 
man Government,  this  sudden  and  deeply  deplorable 
renunciation  of  its  assurances,  given  this  Government 
at  one  of  the  most  critical  moments  of  tension  in  the 
relations  of  the  two  Governments,  I  refuse  to  believe 


Message   to   Congress  117 

that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  German  authorities  to 
do  in  fact  what  they  have  warned  us  they  will  feel 
at  liberty  to  do.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe 
that  they  will  indeed  pay  no  regard  to  the  ancient 
friendship  between  their  people  and  our  own  or  to 
the  solemn  obligations  which  have  been  exchanged 
between  them  and  destroy  American  ships  and  take 
the  lives  of  American  citizens  in  the  wilful  prosecu- 
tion of  the  ruthless  naval  program  they  have 
announced  their  intention  to  adopt. 

Only  actual  overt  acts  on  their  part  can  make  me 
believe  it  even  now. 

If  this  inveterate  confidence  on  my  part  in  the  so- 
briety and  prudent  foresight  of  their  purpose  should 
unhappily  prove  unfounded,  if  American  ships  and 
American  lives  should,  in  fact,  be  sacrified  by  their 
naval  commanders  in  heedless  contravention  of  the 
just  and  reasonable  understandings  of  international 
law  and  the  obvious  dictates  of  humanity,  I  shall  take 
the  liberty  of  coming  again  before  the  Congress  to  ask 
that  authority  be  given  me  to  use  any  means  that  may 
be  necessary  for  the  protectioli  of  our  seamen  and 
our  people  in  the  prosecution  of  their  peaceful  and 
legitimate  errands  on  the  high  seas.  I  can  do  nothing 
less.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  all  neutral  Govern- 
ments will  take  the  same  course. 

I  do  not  desire  any  hostile  conflict  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government.  We  are  the  sincere  friends  of 
the  German  people  and  earnestly  desire  to  remair 
at  peace  with  the  Government  which  speaks  for  them 
We  shall  not  believe  that  they  are  hostile  to  us  urti* 


118  Democracy    Today 

we  are  obliged  to  believe  it ;  and  we  purpose  nothing 
more  than  the  reasonable  defense  of  the  undoubted 
rights  of  our  people.  We  wish  to  serve  no  selfish  ends. 
We  seek  merely  to  stand  true  alike  in  thought  and 
in  action  to  the  immemorial  principles  of  our  people 
which  I  sought  to  express  in  my  address  to  the  Senate 
only  two  weeks  ago — seek  merely  to  vindicate  our 
right  to  liberty  and  justice  and  an  unmolested  life. 
These  are  bases  of  peace,  not  war,  God  grant  we  may 
not-  be  challenged  to  defend  them  by  acts  of  wilful 
injustice  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  Germany. 


REQUEST  FOR  A  GRANT  OF  POWER 
WooDROW  Wilson 

[message  to  the  congress,  FEBRUARY   26,    1917. j 

I  have  again  asked  the  privilege  of  addressing  you 
because  we  are  moving  through  critical  times,  during 
which  it  seems  to  me  to  be  my  duty  to  keep  in.  close 
touch  with  the  Houses  of  Congress  so  that  neither 
counsel  nor  action  shall  run  at  cross-purposes  be- 
tween us. 

On  the  3d  of  February  I  officially  informed  you 
of  the  sudden  and  unexpected  action  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  in  declaring  its  intention  to 
disregard  the  promises  it  had  made  to  this  Govern- 
ment in  April  last  and  undertake  immediate  subma- 
rine operations  against  all  commerce,  whether  of  bel- 
ligerents or  of  neutrals,  that  should  seek  to  approach 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  the  Atlantic  coasts  of 
Europe,  or  the  harbors  of  the  eastern  Mediterranean, 
and  to  conduct  those  operations  without  regard  to  the 
established  restrictions  of  international  practice,  with- 
out regard  to  any  considerations  of  humanity,  even, 
which  might  interfere  with  their  object. 

That  policy  was  forthwith  put  into  practice.  It 
has  now  been  in  active  exhibition  for  nearly  four 
weeks.  Its  practical  results  are  not  fully  disclosed. 
The  commerce  of  other  neutral  nations  is  suffering 
severely,  but  not,  perhaps,  very  much  more  severely 

119 


120  Democracy    Today 

than  it  was  already  suffering  before  the  1st  of  Febru- 
ary, when  the  new  policy  of  the  Imperial  Government 
was  put  into  operation. 

We  have  asked  the  cooperation  of  the  other 
neutral  Governments  to  prevent  these  depredations, 
but  I  fear  none  of  them  has  thought  it  wise  to  join  us 
in  any  common  course  of  action.  Our  own  commerce 
has  suffered,  is  suffering,  rather  in  apprehension  than 
in  fact,  rather  because  so  many  of  our  ships  are 
timidly  keeping  to  their  home  ports  than  because 
American  ships  have  been  sunk. 

Two  American  vessels  have  been  sunk,  the  Housa- 
tonic  and  the  Lyman  M.  Law.  The  case  of  the  Hous- 
atonic,  which  was  carrying  foodstuffs  consigned  to  a 
London  firm,  was  essentially  like  the  case  of  the  Frye, 
in  which,  it  will  be  recalled,  the  German  Government 
admitted  its  liability  for  damages,  and  the  lives  of 
the  crew,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Frye,  were  safeguarded 
with  reasonable  care. 

The  case  of  the  Law,  which  was  carrying  lemon-box 
staves  to  Palermo,  disclosed  a  ruthlessness  of  method 
which  deserves  grave  condemnation,  but  was  accom- 
panied by  no  circumstances  wiiich  might  not  have 
been  expected  at  any  time  in  connection  with  the  use 
of  the  submarine  against  merchantmen  as  the  Ger- 
man Government  has  used  it. 

In  sum,  therefore,  the  situation  we  find  ourselves 
in  with  regard  to  the  actual  conduct  of  the  German 
submarine  warfare  against  commerce  and  its  effects 
upon  our  own  ships  and  people  is  substantially  the 
same  that  it  was  when  I  addressed  you  on  the  3d  of 


Bequest    for    Grant    of   Power  121 

February,  except  for  the  tying  up  of  our  shipping  in 
our  own  ports  because  of  the  unwillingness  of  our 
ship-owners  to  risk  their  vessels  at  sea  without  insur- 
ance or  adequate  protection,  and  the  very  serious 
congestion  of  our  commerce  which  has  resulted,  a  con- 
gestion which  is  growing  rapidly  more  and  more 
serious  every  day. 

This  in  itself  might  presently  accomplish,  in  effect, 
what  the  new  German  submarine  orders  were  meant 
to  accomplish,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned.  We  can 
only  say,  therefore,  that  the  overt  act  which  I  have 
ventured  to  hope  the  German  commanders  would  in 
fact  avoid  has  not  occurred. 

But  while  this  is  happily  true,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  have  been  certain  additional  indications 
and  expressions  of  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  German 
press  and  the  German  authorities  which  have  increased 
rather  than  lessened  the  impression  that  if  our  ships 
and  our  people  are  spared  it  will  be  because  of  fortu- 
nate circumstances  or  because  the  commanders  of  the 
German  submarines  which  they  may  happen  to 
encounter  exercise  an  unexpected  discretion  and 
restraint,  rather  than  because  of  the  instructions 
under  which  those  commanders  are  acting. 

It  would  be  foolish  to  deny  that  the  situation  is 
fraught  with  the  gravest  possibilities  and  dangers. 
No  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  see  that  the  necessity 
for  definite  actiDn  may  come  at  any  time,  if  we  are 
in  fact,  and  not  in  word  merely,  to  defend  our  ele- 
mentary rights  as  a  neutral  nation.  It  would  be  most 
imprudent  to  be  unprepared. 


122  Democracy    Today 

I  cannot  in  such  circumstances  be  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  the  present 
Congress  is  immediately  at  hand  by  constitutional  lim- 
itation, and  that  it  would  in  all  likelihood  require  an 
unusual  length  of  time  to  assemble  and  organize  the 
Congress  which  is  to  succeed  it. 

I  feel  that  I  ought,  in  view  of  that  fact,  to  obtain 
from  you  full  and  immediate  assurance  of  the  author- 
ity which  I  may  need  at  any  moment  to  exercise.  No 
doubt  I  already  possess  that  authority  without  special 
warrant  of  law  by  the  plain  implication  of  my  con- 
stitutional duties  and  powers,  but  I  prefer  in  the 
present  circumstances  not  to  act  upon  general  impli- 
cation. I  wish  to  feel  that  the  authority  and  the 
power  of  the  Congress  are  behind  me  in  whatever  it 
may  become  necessary  for  me  to  do.  We  are  jointly 
the  servants  of  the  people  and  must  act  together  and 
in  their  spirit,  so  far  as  we  can  divine  and  interpret  it. 

No  one  doubts  what  it  is  our  duty  to  do.  We  must 
defend  our  commerce  and  the  lives  of  our  people  in 
the  midst  of  the  present  trying  circumstances  with 
discretion,  but  with  clear  and  steadfast  purpose. 
Only  the  method  and  the  extent  remain  to  be  chosen 
upon  the  occasion,  if  occasion  should  indeed  arise. 

Since  it  has  unhappily  proved  impossible  to  safe- 
guard our  neutral  rights  by  diplomatic  means  against 
the  unwarranted  infringements  they  are  suffering  at 
the  hands  of  Germany,  there  may  be  no  recourse  but 
to  armed  neutrality,  which  we  shall  know  how  to 
maintain  and  for  which  there  is  abundant  American 
precedent. 


Bequest    for    Grant    of   Power  123 

It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  not  be  neces- 
sary to  put  armed  forces  anywhere  into  action.  The 
American  people  do  not  desire  it,  and  our  desire  is 
not  different  from  theirs.  I  am  sure  that  they 
will  understand  the  spirit  in  which  I  am  now  acting, 
the  purpose  I  hold  nearest  my  heart,  and  would  wish 
to  exhibit  in  everything  I  do.  I  am  anxious  that  the 
people  of  the  nations  at  war  also  should  understand 
and  not  mistrust  us. 

I  hope  that  I  need  give  no  further  proofs  and  assur- 
ances than  I  have  already  given  throughout  nearly 
three  years  of  anxious  patience  that  I  am  the  friend 
of  peace,  and  mean  to  preserve  it  for  America  so  long 
as  I  am  able. 

I  am  not  now  proposing  or  contemplating  war, 
or  any  steps  that  lead  to  it.  I  merely  request  that 
you  will  accord  me  by  your  own  vote  and  definite 
bestowal  the  means  and  the  authority  to  safeguard  in 
practice  the  right  of  a  great  people,  who  are  at  peace 
and  who  are  desirous  of  exercising  none  but  the  rights, 
of  peace,  to  follow  the  pursuit  of  peace  in  quietness 
and  good-will — rights  recognized  time  out  of  mind 
by  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world. 

No  course  of  my  choosing  or  of  theirs  will  lead  to 
war.  War  can  come  only  by  the  wilful  acts  and  ag- 
gressions of  others. 

You  will  understand  why  I  can  make  no  definite 
proposals  or  forecasts  of  action  now,  and  must  ask 
for  your  supporting  authority  in  the  most  general 
terms.  The  form  in  which  action  may  become  nec- 
essary cannot  vet  be   foreseen.     I  believe  that  the 


124  Democracy    Today 

people  will  be  willing  to  trust  me  to  act  with  restraint, 
with  prudence,  and  in  the  true  spirit  of  amity  and 
good  faith  that  they  have  themselves  displayed 
throughout  these  trying  months;  and  it  is  in  that 
belief  that  I  request  that  you  will  authorize  me  to 
supply  our  merchant-ships  with  defensive  arms  should 
that  become  necessary,  and  with  the  means  of  using 
them,  and  to  employ  any  other  instrumentalities  or 
methods  that  may  be  necessary  and  adequate  to  pro- 
tect our  ships  and  our  people  in.  their  legitimate  and 
peaceful  pursuits  of  the  seas. 

I  request  also  that  you  will  grant  me  at  the  same 
time,  along  with  the  powers  I  ask,  a  sufficient  credit 
to  enable  me  to  provide  adequate  means  of  protection 
where  they  are  lacking,  including  adequate  insurance 
against  the  present  war  risks. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  commerce  and  of  the  legitimate 
errands  of  our  people  on  the  seas,  but  you  will  not 
be  misled  as  to  my  main  thought,  the  thought  that  lies 
beneath  these  phrases  and  gives  them  dignity  and 
weight. 

.  It  is  not  of  material  interest  merely  that  we  are 
thinking.  It  is,  rather,  of  fundamental  human  rights, 
chief  of  all  the  right  of  life  itself.  I  am  thinking  not 
only  of  the  rights  of  Americans  to  go  and  come 
about  their  proper  business  by  way  of  the  sea,  but 
also  of  something  much  deeper,  much  more  funda- 
mental than  that.  I  am  thinking  of  those  rights  of 
humanity  without  which  there  is  no  civilization.  My 
theme  is  of  those  great  principles  of  compassion  and 
of  protection  which  mankind  has  sought  to  throw 


Bequest   for    Grant    of   Power  125 

about  human  lives — the  lives  of  non-combatants,  the 
lives  of  men  who  are  peacefully  at  work  keeping  the 
industrial  processes  of  the  world  quick  and  vital,  the 
lives  of  women  and  children,  and  of  those  who  supply 
the  labor  which  ministers  to  their  sustenance. 

We  are  speaking  of  no  selfish  material  rights,  but 
of  rights  which  our  hearts  support,  and  whose  found- 
ation is  that  righteous  passion  for  justice  upon  which 
all  law,  all  structures  alike  of  family,  of  state,  and  of 
mankind  must  rest,  and  upon  the  ultimate  base  of 
our  existence  and  our  liberty.  I  cannot  imagine  any 
man  with  American  principles  at  his  heart  hesitating 
to  defend  these  things. 


WAR  MESSAGE 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  delivered  before  congress,  APRIL  2,  1917.] 

I  have  called  the  Confess  into  extraordinary  ses- 
sion because  there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of 
policy  to  be  made,  and  made  immediately,  which  it 
ivas  neither  right  nor  constitutionally  permissible^ 
that  I  should  assume  the  responsibility  of  making. 

On  the  3d  of  February  last  I  officially  laid  before 
you  the  extraordinary  announcement  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of 
February  it  was  its  purpose  to  put  aside  all  re- 
straints of  law  or  of  humanity  and  use  its  submarines 
to  sink  every  vessel  that  sought  to  approach  either  the 
ports  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  or  the  western 
coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the  ports  controlled  by  the 
enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Mediterranean.^  That 
had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  German  submarine 
warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since  April  of  last  year 
the  Imperial  Government  had  somewhat  restrained 
the  commanders  of  its  undersea  craft  in  conformity 
with  its  promise  then  given  to  us^  that  passenger-boats 
should  not  be  sunk,  and  that  due  warning  would  be 
given  to  all  other  vessels  which  its  submarines  might 
seek  to  destroy  where  no  resistance  was  offered  or 
escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that  their  crews 

126 


War   Message  127 

were  given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their  lives  in 
their  open  boats. 

The  precautions  taken  were  meager  and  haphazard 
enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing  instance  after 
instance  in  the  prepress  of  the  cruel  and  unmanly 
business,  but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was  ob- 
served.* 

The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside. 
Vessels  of  every  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  char- 
acter, their  cargo,  their  destination,  their  errand,  have 
been  ruthlessly  sent  to  the  bottom  without  warning, 
and  without  thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those  on 
board,  the  vessels  of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  those 
of  belligerents.  Even  hospital-ships  and  ships  carry- 
ing relief  to  the  sorely  bereaved  and  stricken  people 
of  Belgium,'^  though  the  latter  were  provided  with 
safe  conduct  through  the  proscribed  areas  by  the  Ger- 
man Government  itself  and  were  distinguished  by  un- 
mistakable marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the 
same  reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of  principle. 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that  such 
things  would,  in  fact,  be  done  by  any  Government 
that  had  hitherto  subscribed  to  the  humane  practices 
of  civilized  nations.  International  law  had  its  origin 
in  the  attempt  to  set  up  some  law  which  would  be 
respected  and  observed  upon  the  seas,  where  no  nation 
had  right  of  dominion,  and  where  lay  the  free  high- 
ways of  the  world.  By  painful  stage  after  stage  has 
that  law  been  built  up  with  meager  enough  results, 
indeed,  after  all  was  accomplished  that  could  be  ac- 
complished, but  always  with  a  clear  view  at  least  of 


128  Democracy    Today 

what  the  heart  and  conscience  of  mankind  demanded. 

This  minimum  of  right  the  German  Government 
has  swept  aside  under  the  plea  of  retaliation  and 
necessity,  and  because  it  had  no  weapons  which  it 
could  use  at  sea  except  these,  which  it  is  impossible 
to  employ  as  it  is  employing  them  without  throwing 
to  the  winds  all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of  respect 
for  the  understandings  that  were  supposed  to  underlie 
the  intercourse  of  the  world. 

I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  .>!  property  in- 
volved, immense  and  serious  as  that  is,  but  only  of  the 
wanton  and  wholesale  destruction  of  the  lives  of  non- 
combatants,  men,  women,  and  children  engaged  in 
pursuits  which  have  always,  even  in  the  darkest 
periods  of  modem  history,^  been  deemed  innocent  and 
legitimate. 

Property  can  be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peaceful  and 
innocent  people  cannot  be. 

The  present  German  warfare  against  commerce  is 
a  warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a  war  against  all 
nations.  American  ships  have  been  sunk,'^  American 
lives  taken,^  in  ways  which  it  has  stirred  us  very  deeply 
to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and  people  of  other  neutral 
and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  and  overwhelmed 
in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no  dis- 
crimination. The  challenge  is  to  all  mankind.  Each 
nation  must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it.^  The 
choice  we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made  with  a 
moderation  of  counsel  and  a  temperateness  of  judg- 
ment befitting  our-  character  and  our  motives  as  a 
Nation.    We  must  put  excited  feeling  away. 


War    Message  129 

Our  motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  victorious 
assertion  of  the  physical  might  of  the  nation,  but  only 
the  vindication  of  right,  of  human  right,  of  which  we 
are  only  a  single  champion. 

When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  26th  of 
February  last  I  thought  that  it  would  suffice  to  assert 
our  neutral  rights  with  arms,  our  right  to  use  the  seas 
against  unlawful  interference,  our  right  to  keep  our 
people  safe  against  unlawful  violence.  But  armed 
neutrality,  it  now  appears,  is  impracticable.  Because 
submarines  are  in  effect  outlaws  when  used  as  the 
German  submarines  have  been  used  against  merchant 
shipping,  it  is  impossible  to  defend  ships  against  their 
attacks  as  the  law  of  nations  has  assumed  that  mer- 
chantmen would  defend  themselves  against  privateers 
or  cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the  open 
sea. 

It  is  common  prudence  in  such  circumstances,  grim 
necessity,  indeed,  to  endeavor  to  destroy  them  before 
they  have  shown  their  own  intention.  They  must  be 
dealt  with  upon  sight,  if  dealt  with  at  all. 

The  German  Government  denies  the  right  of  neu- 
trals to  use  arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the  sea 
which  it  has  proscribed,  even  in  the  defense  of  rights 
which  no  modem  publicist  has  ever  before  questioned 
their  right  to  defend.  The  intimation  is  conveyed 
that  the  armed  guards  which  we  have  placed  on  our 
merchant-«hii)s  will  be  treated  as  beyond  the  pale  of 
law  and  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as  pirates  would  be. 

Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual  enough  at  best; 
in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of  such  pre- 


130  Democracy    Today 

tensions  it  is  worse  than  ineffectual ;  it  is  likely  to  pro- 
duce what  it  was  meant  to  prevent;  it  is  practically- 
certain  to  draw  us  into  the  war  without  either  the 
rights  or  the  effectiveness  of  belligerents. 

There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are  inca- 
pable of  making :  we  will  not  choose  the  path  of  sub- 
mission and  suffer  the  most  sacred  rights  of  our  nation 
and  our  people  to  be  ignored  or  violated. ^^  The  wrongs 
against  which  we  now  array  ourselves  are  not  com- 
mon wrongs;  they  reach  out  to  the  very  roots  of 
human  life. 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even 
tragical  character  of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the 
grave  responsibilities  which  it  involves,  but  in  unhes- 
itating obedience  to  what  I  deem  my  constitutional 
duty,  I  advise  that  the  Congress  declare  the  recent 
course  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  be  in 
fact  nothing  less  than  war  against  the  Government 
and  people  of  the  United  States.^^  That  it  formally 
accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which  has  thus  been 
thrust  upon  it  and  that  it  take  immediate  steps  not 
only  to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thorough  state  of 
defense,  but  also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ 
all  its  resources  to  bring  the  Government  of  the  Grer- 
man  Empire  to  terms  and  end  the  war. 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the 
utmost  practicable  cooperation  in  counsel  and  action 
with  the  Governments  now  at  war  with  Germany,  and 
as  incident  to  that  the  extension  to  those  Governments 
of  the  most  liberal  financial  credits  in  order  that  our 
resources  may  so  far  as  possible  be  added  to  theirs. 


War   Message  131 

It  will  involve  the  organization  and  mobilization  of 
all  the  material  resources  of  the  country  to  supply 
the  materials  of  war  and  serve  the  incidental  needs  of 
the  nation  in  the  most  abundant  and  yet  the  most 
economical  and  efficient  way  possible. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment  of  the 
navy  in  all  respects,  but  particularly  in  supplying  it 
with  the  best  means  of  dealing  with  the  enemy's  sub- 
marines. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  addition  to  the  armed 
forces  of  the  United  States  already  provided  for  by 
law  in  case  of  war  at  least  500,000  men,  who  should, 
in  my  opinion,  be  chosen  upon  the  principle  of  uni- 
versal liability  to  service,  and  also  the  authorization 
of  subsequent  additional  increments  of  equal  force 
so  soon  as  they  may  be  needed  and  can  be  handled 
in  training. 

It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting  of  ade- 
quate credits  to  the  Government,  sustained,  I  hope, 
so  far  as  they  can  equitably  be  sustained  by  the  pres- 
ent generation,  by  well-conceived  taxation.  I  say  sus- 
tained so  far  as  may  be  equitable  by  taxation  because 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  base 
the  credits  which  will  now  be  necessary  entirely  on 
money  borrowed. 

It  is  our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  urge,  to  protect 
our  people  so  far  as  we  may  against  the  very  serious 
hardships  and  evils  which  would  be  likely  to  arise  out 
of  the  inflation  which  would  be  produced  by  vast 
loans. 


132  Democracy    Today 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these  things 
are  to  be  accomplished  we  should  keep  constantly  in 
mind  the  wisdom  of  interfering  as  little  as  possible  in 
our  own  preparation  and  in  the  equipment  of  our  own 
military  forces  with  the  duty — for  it  will  be  a  very 
practical  duty — of  supplying  the  nations  already  at 
war  with  Germany  with  the  materials  which  they  can 
obtain  only  from  us  or  by  our  assistance.  They  are  in 
the  field  and  we  should  help  them  in  every  way  to  be 
effective  there.^^ 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through  the 
several  executive  departments  of  the  Government,  for 
the  consideration  of  your  committees  measures  for 
the  accomplishment  of  the  several  objects  I  have  men- 
tioned. I  hope  that  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  deal 
with  them  as  having  been  framed  after  very  careful 
thought  by  the  branch  of  the  Government  upon  which 
the  responsibility  of  conducting  the  war  and  safe- 
guarding the  nation  will  most  directly  fall. 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  momentous 
things,  let  us  be  very  clear  and  make  very  clear  to 
all  the  world  what  our  motives  and  our  objects  are. 
My  own  thought  has  not  been  driven  from  its  habitual 
and  normal  course  by  the  unhappy  events  of  the  last 
two  months,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  thought  of 
the  nation  has  been  altered  or  clouded  by  them. 

I  have  exactly  the  same  thing  in  mind  now  that  I 
had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate  on  the  22d 
of  January  last ;  the  same  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I 
addressed  the  Congress  on  the  3d  of  February  and  on 
the  26th  of  February. 


War   Message  133 

Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  princi- 
ples of  peace  and  the  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world 
as  against  selfish  and  autocratic  power  and  to  set  up 
amongst  the  really  free  and  self-governed  peoples  of 
the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  of  action  as 
will  henceforth  insure  the  observance  of  those  prin- 
ciples. 

Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where 
the  peace  of  the  world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of 
its  peoples,  and  the  menace  to  that  peace  and  free- 
dom lies  in  the  existence  of  autocratic  Governments*' 
backed  by  organized  force  which  is  controlled  wholly 
by  their  will,  not  by  the  will  of  their  people.  We 
have  seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  circumstances. 

We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which  it  will 
be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of  conduct  and  of 
responsibility  for  wrong  done  shall  be  observed  among 
nations  and  their  Governments  that  are  observed 
among  the  individual  citizens  of  civilized  states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We 
have  no  feeling  toward  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and 
friendship.  It  was  not  upon  their  impulse  that  their 
Government  acted  in  entering  this  war.**  It  was  not 
with  their  previous  knowledge  or  approval.*^ 

It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars  used  to  be 
determined  upon  in  the  old,  unhappy  days  when 
peoples  were  nowhere  consulted  by  their  rulers  and 
wars  were  provoked  and  waged  in  the  interest  of 
dynasties*^  or  little  groups  of  ambitious  men  who  were 
accustomed  to  use  their  fellow-men  as  pawns  and  tools. 


i34  Democracy    Today 

Self-governed  nations  do  not  fill  their  neighbor 
states  with  spies  or  set  the  course  of  intrigue  to  bring 
about  some  critical  posture  of  affairs  which  will  give 
them  an  opportunity  to  strike  and  make  conquest.-^' 
Such  designs  can  be  successfully  worked  only  under 
cover  and  where  no  one  has  the  right  to  ask  questions. 

Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or  aggres- 
sion, carried,  it  may  be,  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, can  be  worked  out  and  kept  from  the  light  only 
within  the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind  the  carefully 
guarded  confidences  of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class. 
They  arc  happily  impossible  where  public  opinion 
commands  and  insists  upon  full  information  concern- 
ing all  the  nation's  affairs. 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  main- 
tained except  by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations. 
No  autocratic  Government  could  be  trusted  to  keep 
faith  within  it  or  observe  its  covenants.  It  must  be 
a  league  of  honor,  a  partnership  of  opinion.  Intrigue 
would  eat  its  vitals  away,  the  plottings  of  inner 
circles  who  could  plan  what  they  would  and  render 
account  to  no  one  would  be  a  corruption  seated  at  its 
very  heart.  Only  free  peoples  can  hold  their  purpose 
and  their  honor  steady  to  a  common  end  and  prefer 
the  interests  of  mankind  to  any  narrow  interest  of 
their  own.^^ 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance  has 
been  added  to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace  of  the 
world  by  the  wonderful  and  heartening  things  that 
have  been  happening  within  the  last  few  weeks  in 
Russia  ? 


War   Message  135 

Russia  was  known  by  those  who  know  it  best  to  have 
been  always  in  fact  democratic  at  heart,  in  all  the 
vital  habits  of  her  thought,  in  all  the  intimate  relation- 
ships of  her  people  that  spoke  their  natural  instinct, 
their  habitual  attitude  toward  life. 

Autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of  her  political 
structure,  long  as  it  had  stood  and  terrible  as  was  the 
reality  of  its  power,  was  not  in  fact  Russian  in  origin, 
in  character  or  purpose  ;^®  and  now  it  has  been  shaken 
off  and  the  great,  generous  Russian  people  have  been 
added,  in  all  their  native  majesty  and  might,  to  the 
forces  that  are  fighting  for  freedom  in  the  world,  for 
justice  and  for  peace.  Here  is  a  fit  partner  for  a 
League  of  Honor. 

One  of  the  things  that  have  served  to  convince  us 
that  the  Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could  never 
be  our  friend  is  that  from  the  very  outset  of  the  pres- 
ent war  it  has  filled  our  unsuspecting  communities 
and  even  our  offices  of  Government  with  spies  and  set 
criminal  intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against  our  na- 
tional unity  of  council,  our  peace  within  and  without, 
our  industries  and  our  commerce.  ^^ 

Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were  here 
even  before  the  war  began,  and  it  is,  unhappily,  not 
a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  a  fact  proved  in  our  courts 
of  justice,  that  the  intrigues  which  have  more  than 
once  come  perilously  near  to  disturbing  the  peace 
and  dislocating  the  industries  of  the  country  have 
been  carried  on  at  the  instigation,  with  the  support, 
and   even  under  the  personal    direction,    of   official 


136  Democracy    Today 

agents  of  the  Imperial  German  Gk>vemment  accred- 
fted  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Even  in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to  extir- 
pate them  we  have  sought  to  put  the  most  generous 
interpretation  possible  upon  them  because  we  knew 
that  their  source  lay,  not  in  any  hostile  feeling  or  pur- 
pose of  the  German  people  toward  us  (who  were,  no 
doubt,  as  ignorant  of  them  as  we  ourselves  were), 
but  only  in  the  selfish  designs  of  a  Government  that 
did  what  it  pleased  and  told  its  people  nothing. 
But  they  have  played  their  part  in  serving  to  con- 
vince us  at  last  that  that  Government  entertains  no 
real  friendship  for  us  and  means  to  act  against  our 
peace  and  security  at  its  convenience.^^  That  it  means 
to  stir  up  enemies  against  us  at  our  very  doors  the 
intercepted  note  to  the  German  Minister  at  Mexico 
City  is  eloquent  evidence.^^ 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose 
because  we  know  that  in  such  a  Government,  follow- 
ing such  methods,  we  can  never  have  a  friend;  and 
that  in  the  presence  of  its  organized  power,  always 
lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we  know  not  what  pur- 
pose, there  can  be  no  assured  security  for  the  demo- 
cratic Governments  of  the  world.^^ 

We  are  now  about  to  accept  the  gage  of  battle  with 
this  natural  foe  to  liberty,  and  shall,  if  necessary, 
spend  the  whole  force  of  the  nation  to  check  and  nul- 
lify its  pretensions  and  its  power.  We  are  glad,  now 
that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pretense 
about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of 
the  world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the 


War   Message  137 

German  people  included;  for  the  rights  of  nations 
great  and  small  and  the  privilege  of  men  everywhere 
to  choose  their  way  of  life  and  of  obedience.  The 
world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  Its  peace 
must  be  planted  upon  the  trusted  foundations  of  polit- 
ical liberty. 

We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no 
conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities  for 
ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices 
we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  but  one  of  the  cham- 
pions of  the  rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied 
when  those  rights  have  been  made  as  secure  as  the 
faith  and  the  freedom  of  nations  can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor  and  without 
selfish  objects,  seeking  nothing  for  ourselves  but  what 
we  sheill  wish  to  share  with  all  free  peoples,  we  shall, 
I  feel  confident,  conduct  our  operations  as  belliger- 
ents without  passion  and  ourselves  observe  with  proud 
punctilio  the  principles  of  right  and  of  fair  play  we 
profess  to  be  fighting  for.'* 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  Governments  allied  with 
the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany  because  they 
have  not  made  war  upon  us  or  challenged  us  to  defend 
our  right  and  our  honor. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  has  indeed 
avowed  its  unqualified  indorsement  and  acceptance  of 
the  reckless  and  lawless  submarine  warfare^^  adopted 
now  without  disguise  by  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment, and  it  has  therefore  not  been  possible  for  this 
Government  to  receive  Count  Tamowski,  the  ambas- 
sador recently  accredited  to  this  Government  by  the 


138  Democrif-  y    Today 

Imperial  and  Royal  Government  of  Austro-Hungary ; 
but  that  Government  has  not  actually  engaged  in 
warfare  against  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the 
seas,  and  I  take  the  liberty,  for  the  present  at  least, 
of  postponing  a  discussion  of  our  relations  with  the 
authorities  at  Vienna. 

We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are  clearly  forced 
into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means  of  defending 
our  rights. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves 
as  belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness 
because  we  act  without  animus,  not  in  enmity  toward 
a  people  or  with  the  desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  dis- 
advantage upon  them,  but  only  in  armed  opposition 
to  an  irresponsible  Government  which  has  thrown 
aside  all  considerations  of  humanity  and  of  right 
and  is  running  amuck. 

We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of  the 
German  people,  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much  as 
the  early  re-establishment  ol  intimate  relations  of 
mutual  advantage  between  us,  however  hard  it  may  be 
for  them,  for  the  time  being,  ti  believe  that  this  is 
spoken  from  our  hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their 
present  Government  through  all  these  bitter  months 
because  of  that  friendship, — exercising  a  patience  and 
forbearance  which  would  otherwise  have  been  impos- 
5ible.26 

We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an  opportunity  to 
prove  that  friendship  in  our  daily  attitude  and  actions 
towards  the  millions  of  men  and  women  of  German 
birth  and  native  sympathy  who  live  amongst  us  and 


War   Message  139 

share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be  proud  to  prove  it  to- 
ward all  who  are,  in  fact,  loyal  to  their  neighbors 
and  to  the  Government  in  the  hour  of  test.  They  are, 
most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as  if  they 
had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance. 
They  will  be  prompt  to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and 
restraining  the  few  who  may  be  of  a  different  mind 
and  purpose.  If  there  should  be  disloyalty  it  will 
be  dealt  with  with  a  firm  hand  of  stern  repression  ;^ 
but,  if  it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only  here 
and  there  and  without  countenance  except  from  a  law- 
less and  malignant  few. 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gentlemen 
of  the  Congress,  which  I  have  performed  in  thus  ad- 
dressing you.  There  are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of 
fiery  trial  and  sacrifice  ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful  people  into  war,  into 
the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civiliza- 
tion itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance.  But  the 
right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we  shall  fight 
for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried  nearest 
our  hearts^^ — for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those 
who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own 
governments,  for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small 
nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a 
concert  of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety 
to  all  nations  and  make  the  world  itself  at  last  free. 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  for- 
tunes, everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we 
have,  with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day 
has  come  when  America  is  privileged  to  spend  her 


140  Democracy    Today 

blooi  and  her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her 
birtli  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has 
treasured.    God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other.^ 


FLAG  DAY  ADDRESS 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address    delivered    at    WASHINGTON,    D.  C,    ON    FLAG 
DAY,  JUNE  14,   1917.] 

"We  meet  to  celebrate  Flag  Day  because  this  flag 
which  we  honor  and  under  which  we  serve  is  the 
emblem  of  our  unity,  our  power,  our  thought  and 
purpose  as  a  nation.  It  has  no  other  character  than 
that  which  we  give  it  from  generation  to  generation. 
The  choices  are  ours.  It  floats  in  majestic  silence 
above  the  ho=i;s  that  execute  those  choices,  whether 
in  peace  or  in  war.  And  yet,  though  silent,  it  speaks 
to  us, — speaks  to  us  of  the  past,  of  the  men  and 
women  who  went  before  us  and  of  the  records  they 
wrote  upon  it.  We  celebrate  the  day  of  its  birth ;  and 
from  its  birth  until  now  it  has  witnessed  a  great  his- 
tory, has  floated  on  high  the  symbol  of  great  events, 
of  a  great  plan  of  life  worked  out  by  a  great  people. 
We  are  about  to  carry  it  into  battle,  to  lift  it  where 
it  will  draw  the  fire  of  our  enemies.  We  are  about 
to  bid  thousands,  hundreds  of  thousands,  it  may  be 
millions,  of  our  men,  the  young,  the  strong,  the 
capable  men  of  the  nation,  to  go  forth  and  die 
beneath  it  on  fields  otf  blood  far  away, — for  what? 
For  some  unaccustomed  thing?  For  something  for 
which  it  has  never  sought  the  fire  before?  Amer- 
ican armies  were  never  before  sent  across  the  seas. 

141 


142  Democracy    Today 

Why  are  they  sent  now?  For  some  new  purpose, 
for  which  this  great  flag  has  never  been  carried 
before,  or  for  some  old,  familiar,  heroic  purpose  for 
which  it  has  seen  men,  its  own  men,  die  on  every 
battlefield  upon  which  Americans  have  borne  arms 
since  the  Revolution? 

These  are  questions  which  must  be  answered.  We 
are  Americans.  We  in  our  turn  serve  America,  and 
can  serve  her  with  no  private  purpose.  We  must 
use  her  flag  as  she  has  always  used  it.  We  are  ac- 
eouintable  at  the  bar  of  history  and  must  plead  in 
utter  frankness  what  purpose  it  is  we  seek  to  serve. 

It  is  plain  enough  how  we  were  forced  into  the 
war.  The  extraordinary  insults  and  aggressions  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  left  us  no  self- 
respecting  choice  but  to  take  up  arms  in  defense  of 
our  rights  as  a  free  people  and  of  our  honor  as  a 
sovereign  government.  The  military  masters  of 
Germany  denied  us  the  right  to  "be  neutral.  They 
filled  our  unsuspecting  communities  with  vicious 
spies  and  conspirators  and  sought  to  corrupt  the 
opinion  of  our  people  in  their  own  behalf.  When 
they  found  that  they  could  not  do  that,  their  agents 
diligently  spread  sedition  amongst  us  and  sought  to 
draw  our  own  citizens  from  their  allegiance, — and 
some  of  those  agents  were  men  connected  with  the 
official  Embassy  of  the  German  Government  itself 
here  in  our  own  Capital.*  They  sought  by  violence 
to  destroy  our  industries  and  arrest  our  commerce.^ 
They  tried  to  incite  Mexico  to  take  up  arms  against 
us  and  to  draw  Japan  into  a  hostile  alliance  with 


Flag    Day    Address  143 

her, — and  that,  not  by  indirection,  but  by  direct 
suggestion  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin.^  They 
impudently  denied  us  the  use  of  the  high  seas  and 
repeatedly  executed  their  threat  that  they  would 
send  to  their  death  any  of  our  x>eople  who  ventured 
to  approach  the  coasts  of  Europe.*  And  many  of 
our  own  people  were  corrupted.^  Men  began  to  look 
upon  their  own  neighbors  with  suspicion  and  to 
wonder  in  their  hot  resentment  and  surprise  whether 
there  was  any  community  in  which  hostile  intrigue 
did  not  lurk.  What  great  nation  in  such  circum- 
stances would  not  have  taken  up  arms?  Much  as 
we  had  desired  peace,  it  was  denied  us,  and  not  of 
our  own  choice.  This  flag  under  which  we  serve 
would  have  been  dishonored  had  we  withheld  our 
hand. 

But  that  is  only  part  of  the  story.  We  know 
now  as  clearly  as  we  knew  before  we  were  our- 
selves engaged  that  we  are  not  the  enemies  of  the 
German  people  and  that  they  are  not  our  enemies. 
They  did  not  originate  or  desire  this  hideous  war 
or  wish  that  we  should  be  drawn  into  it;  and  we 
are  vaguely  conscious  that  we  are  fighting  their 
cause,  as  they  will  some  day  see  it,  as  well  as  our 
own.^  They  are  themselves  in  the  grip  of  the  same 
sinister  power  that  has  now  at  last  stretched  its 
ugly  talons  out  and  drawn  blood  from  us.*^  The 
whole  world  is  at  war  because  the  whole  world  is 
in  the  grip  of  that  power  and  is  trying  out  the 
great  battle  which  shall  determine  whether  it  is, to 
be  brought  under  its  mastery  or  fling  itself  free. 


144  Democracy    Today 

The  war  was  begun  by  the  military  masters  of 
Germany,  who  proved  to  be  also  the  masters  of 
Austria-Hungary.  These  men  have  never  regarded 
nations  as  peoples,  men,  women,  and  children  of 
like  blood  and  frame  as  themselves,  for  whom  gov- 
ernments existed  and  in  whom  governments  had 
their  life.  They  have  regarded  them  merely  as  serv- 
iceable organizations  which  they  could  by  force  or 
intrigue  bend  or  corrupt  to  their  own  purpose. 
They  have  regarded  the  smaller  states,  in  particular, 
and  the  peoples  who  could  be  overwhelmed  by  force, 
as  their  natural  tools  and  instruments  of  domina- 
tion.^ Their  purpose  has  long  been  avowed.  The 
statesmen  of  other  nations,  to  whom  that  purpose 
was  incredible,®  paid  little  attention ;  regarded  what 
German  professors  expounded  in  their  classrooms 
and  German  writers  set  forth  to  the  world  as  the 
goal  of  German  policy  as  rather  the  dream  of  minds 
detached  from  practical  affairs,  as  preposterous  pri- 
vate conceptions  of  German  destiny,  than  as  the 
actual  plans  of  responsible  rulers;  but  the  rulers  of 
Germany  themselves  knew  all  the  while  what  con- 
crete plans,  what  well  advanced  intrigues  lay  back 
of  what  the  professors  and  the  writers  were  saying, 
and  were  glad  to  go  forward  unmolested,^^  filling  the 
thrones  of  Balkan  states  with  German  princes,^ ^  put- 
ting German  officers  at  the  service  of  Turkey  to  drill 
her  armies^^  and  make  interest  with  her  govern- 
ment, developing  plans  of  sedition  and  rebellion  in 
India  and  Egypt,  setting  their  fires  in  Persia.^^  The 
demands  made  by  Austria  upon  Servia  were  a  mere 


Flag    Day    Address  145 

single  step^*  in  a  plan  which  compassed  Europe  and 
Asia,  from  Berlin  to  Bagdad.^^  They  hoped  those 
demands  might  not  arouse  Europe,  bu)t  they  meant 
to  press  them  whether  they  did  or  not,  for  they 
thought  themselves  ready  for  the  final  issue  of  arms. 
Their  plan  was  to  throw  a  broad  belt  of  German 
military  power  and  political  control  across  the  very 
center  of  Europe  and  beyond  the  Mediterranean  into 
the  heart  of  Asia;  and  Austria-Hungary  was  to  be 
as  much  their  tool  and  pawn  as  Servia  or  Bulgaria 
or  Turkey  or  the  ponderous  states  of  the  East. 
Austria-Hungary,  indeed,  was  to  become  part  of  the 
central  German  Empire,  absorbed  and  dominated  by 
the  same  forces  and  influences  that  had  originally 
cemented  the  German  states  themselves.  The  dream 
had  its  heart  at  Berlin.  It  could  have  had  a  heart 
nowhere  else  !^*'  It  rejected  the  idea  of  solidarity  of 
race  entirely.  The  choice  of  peoples  played  no  part 
in  it  at  all.  It  contemplated  binding  together  racial 
and  political  units  which  could  be  kept  together  only 
by  force, — Czechs,  Magyars,  Croats,  Serbs,  Rouman- 
ians, Turks,  Armenians, — the  proud  states  of  Bo- 
hemia and  Huingary,  the  stout  little  commonwealths 
of  the  Balkans,  the  indomitable  Turks,  the  subtle 
peoples  of  the  East.^''^  These  peoples  did  not  wish  to 
be  united.  They  ardently  desired  to  direct  their 
own  affairs,  would  be  satisfied  only  by  undisputed 
independence.  They  could  be  kept  quiet  only  by 
the  presence  or  the  constant  threat  of  armed  men. 
They  would  live  under  a  common  power  only  by 
sheer  compulsion  and  await  the  day  of  revolution.^^ 


146  Democracy    Today 

But  the  German  military  statesmen  had  reckoned 
with  all  that  and  were  ready  to  deal  with  it  in 
their  own  way. 

And  they  have  actually  carried  the  greater  part 
of  that  amazing  plan  into  execution!  Look  how 
things  stand.  Austria  is  at  their  mercy.  It  has 
acted,  not  upon  its  own  initiative  or  upon  the  choice 
of  its  own  people,  but  at  Berlin's  dictation  ever 
since  the  war  began.  Its  people  now  desire  peace, 
but  cannot  have  it  until  leave  is  granted  from  Ber- 
lin. The  so-called  Central  Powers  are  in  fact  but  a 
single  Power.  Servia  is  at  its  mercy,  should  its 
hands  be  but  for  a  moment  freed.  Bulgaria  has 
consented  to  its  will,  and  Roumania  is  overrun.  The 
Turkish  armies,  which  Germans  trained,  are  serving 
Germany,  certainly  not  themselves,  and  the  guns  of 
German  warships  lying  in  the  harbor  at  Constanti- 
nople remind  Turkish  statesmen  every  day  that  they 
have  no  choice  but  to  take  their  orders  from  Berlin.^^ 
From  Hamburg  to  the  Persian  Gulf  the  net  is  spread. 

Is  it  not  easy  to  understand  the  eagerness  for 
peace  that  has  been  manifested  from  Berlin  ever 
since  the  snare  was  set  and  sprung?  Peace,  peace, 
peace  has  been  the  talk  of  her  Foreign  Office  for 
now  a  year  and  more;  not  peace  upon  her  own  ini- 
tiative, but  upon  the  initiative  of  the  nations  over 
which  she  now  deems  herself  to  hold  the  advantage. 
A  little  of  the  talk  has  been  public,  but  most  of  it 
has  been  private.  Through  all  sorts  of  channels  it 
has  come  to  me,  and  in  all  sorts  of  guises,  but  never 
with  the  terms  disclosed  which  the  German  Govern- 
ment would  be  willing  to  accept.^^ 


Flag    Day    Address  147 

That  government  has  other  valuable  pawns  in  its 
hands  besides  those  I  have  mentioned.  It  still  holds  a 
valuable  part  of  France,  though  with  slowly  relaxing 
grasp,  and  practically  the  whole  of  Belgium.  Its 
armies  press  close  upon  Russia  and  overrun  Poland  at 
their  will.  It  cannot  go  further ;  it  dare  not  go  back. 
It  wishes  to  close  its  bargain  before  it  is  too  late  and 
it  has  little  left  to  offer  for  the  pound  of  flesh  it  will 
demand.^^ 

The  military  masters  under  whom  Germany  is 
bleeding  see  very  clearly  to  what  point  Fate  has 
brought  them.  If  tii»iy  tail  back  or  are  forced  back 
an  inch,  their  power  both  abroad  and  at  home  will 
fall  to  pieces  like  a  house  of  cards.  It  is  their  power 
at  home  they  are  thinking  about  now  more  than 
their  power  abroad.  It  is  that  power  which  is  trem- 
bling under  their  very  feet;  and  deep  fear  has  en- 
tered their  hearts.  They  have  but  one  chance  to 
perpetuate  their  military  power  or  even  their  con- 
trolling political  influence.  If  they  can  secure  peace 
now  with  the  immense  advantages  still  in  their 
hands  which  they  have  up  to  this  point  apparently 
gained,  they  will  have  justified  themselves  before 
the  German  people :  they  will  have  gained  by  torc<» 
what  they  promised  to  gain  by  it:  an  immense  ex- 
pansion of  German  power,  an  immense  enlargement 
of  German  industrial  and  commercial  opportunities. 
Their  prestige  will  be  secure,  and  with  their  prestige 
their  political  power.  If  they  fail,  their  people  will 
thrust  them  aside ;  a  government  accountable  to  the 
people  themselves  will  be  set  up  in  Germany  as  it 


148  Democracy    Today 

has  been  in  England,  in  the  United  States,  in  Prance, 
and  in  all  the  great  countries  of  the  modem  time 
except  Germany.  If  they  succeed  they  are  safe  and 
Germany  and  the  world  are  undone;  if  they  fail 
Germany  is  saved  and  the  world  will  be  at  peace, 
[f  they  succeed,  America  will  fall  within  the  menace. 
We  and  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  must  remain  armed, 
as  they  will  remain,  and  must  make  ready  for  the 
next  step  in  their  aggression ;  if  they  fail,  the  world 
may  unite  for  peace  and  Germany  may  be  of  the 
anion.^^ 

Do  you  not  now  understand  the  new  intrigue,^^  the 
intrigue  for  peace,  and  why  the  masters  of  Germany 
do  not  hesitate  to  use  any  agency  that  promises  to 
effect  their  purpose,  the  deceit  of  the  nations?  Their 
present  particular  aim  is  to  deceive  all  those  who 
throughout  the  world  stand  for  the  rights  of  peo- 
ples and  the  self-government  of  nations;  for  they 
see  what  immense  strength  the  forces  of  justice  and 
of  liberalism  are  gathering  out  of  this  war.  They 
are  employing  liberals  in  their  enterprise.  They  are 
using  men,  in  Germany  and  without,  as  their  spokes- 
men whom  they  have  hitherto  despised  and  op- 
pressed, using  them  for  their  own  destruction, — 
Socialists,^*  the  leaders  of  labor,  the  thinkers  they  have 
hitherto  sought  to  silence.  Let  them  once  succeed 
and  these  men,  now  their  tools,  will  be  ground  to 
powder  beneath  the  weight  of  the  great  military 
empire  they  will  have  set  up;  the  revolutionists  in 
Russia  will  be  cut  off  from  all  succor  or  cooperation 
in  western  Europe  and  a  counter  revolution  fostered 


Flag    Day    Address  149 

and  supported ;  Germany  herself  will  lose  her  ehance 
of  freedom;  and  all  Europe  will  afm  for  the  next, 
the  final  struggle. 

The  sinister  intrigue  is  being  no  less  actively  con- 
ducted in  this  country  than  in  Russia  and  in  every 
country  in  Europe  to  which  the  agents  and  dupes  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  can  get  access. 
That  government  has  many  spokesmen  here,  in 
places  high  and  low.  They  have  learned  discretion. 
They  keep  within  the  law.  It  is  opinion  they  utter 
now,  not  sedition.  They  proclaim  the  liberal  pur- 
poses of  their  masters;  declare  this  a  foreign  war 
which  can  touch  America  with  no  danger  to  either 
her  lands  or  her  institutions;  set  England  at  the 
center  of  the  stage  and  talk  of  her  ambition  to  assert 
economic  dominion  throughout  the  world;  appeal  to 
our  ancient  tradition  of  isolation  in  the  politics  of 
the  nations ;  and  seek  to  undermine  the  government 
with  false  professions  of  loyalty  to  its  principles. 

But  they  will  make  no  headway.  The  false  betray 
themselves  always  in  every  accent.  It  is  only 
friends  and  partisans  of  the  German  Government 
whom  we  have  already  identified  who  utter  these 
thinly  disguised  disloyalties.  The  facts  are  patent 
to  all  the  world,  and  nowhere  are  they  more  plainly 
seen  than  in  the  United  States,  where  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  deal  with  facts  and  not  with  sophistries; 
and  the  great  fact  that  stands  out  above  all  the  rest 
is  that  this  is  a  People's  "War,  a  war  for  freedom 
and  justice  and  self-government  amongst  all  the 
nations  of  the  world,  a  war  to  make  the  world  safe 


150  Democracy    Today 

for  the  peoples  who  live  upon  it  and  have  made  it 
their  own,  the  German  people  themselves  included; 
and  that  with  us  rests  the  choice  to  break  through  all 
these  hypocrisies  and  patent  cheats  and  masks  of 
brute  force  and  help  set  the  world  free,  or  else 
stand  aside  and  let  it  be  dominated  a  long  age 
through  by  sheer  weight  of  arms  and  the  arbitrary 
choices  of  self-constituted  masters,  by  the  nation 
which  can  maintain  the  biggest  armies  and  the  most 
irresistible  armaments, — a  power  to  which  the  world 
has  afforded  no  parallel  and  in  the  face  of  which 
political  freedom  must  ^vither  and  perish. 

For  us  there  is  but  one  choice.  "We  have  made  it. 
Woe  be  to  the  man  or  group  of  men  that  seeks  to 
stand  in  our  way  in  this  day  of  high  resolution  when 
every  principle  we  hold  dearest  is  to  be  vindicated 
and  made  secure  for  the  salvation  of  the  nations. 
We  are  ready  to  plead  at  the  bar  of  history,  and 
our  flag  shall  wear  a  new  luster.  Once  more  we 
shall  make  good  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  the 
great  faith  to  which  we  were  born,  and  a  new  glory 
shall  shine  in  the  face  of  our  people. 


REPLY  TO  THE  POPE 
WooDROw  Wilson 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  AUGUST,  27,  1917. 

To  His  Holiness  Benedictus  XV.,  Pope: 

In  acknowledgmeiit  of  the  communication  of  your 
Holiness  to  the  belligerent  peoples,  dated  Aug.  1, 
1917,  the  President  of  the  United  States  requests  me 
to  transmit  the  following  reply: 

Every  heart  that  has  not  been  blinded  and  hard- 
ened by  this  terrible  war  must  be  touched  by  this 
moving  appeal  of  his  Holiness  the  Pope,  must  feel 
the  dignity  and  force  of  the  humane  and  generous 
motives  which  prompted  it,  and  must  fervently  wish 
that  we  might  take  the  path  of  peace  he  so  persua- 
sively points  out.  But  it  would  be  folly  to  take  it 
if  it  does  not  in  fact  lead  to  the  goal  he  proposes. 
Our  response  must  be  based  upon  the  stern  facts  and 
upon  nothing  else.  It  is  not  a  mere  cessation  of 
arms  he  desires;  it  is  a  stable  and  enduring  peace. 
The  agony  must  not  be  gone  through  with  again, 
and  it  must  be  a  matter  of  very  sober  judgment 
what  will  insure  us  against  it. 

His  Holiness  in  substance  proposes  that  we  return 
to  the  status  quo  ante  bellum,  and  that  then  there 
be  a  general  condonation,  disarmament,  and  a  con- 
cert of  nations  based  upon  an  acceptance  of  the 
principle  of  arbitration;  that  by  a  similar  concert 
freedom  of  the  seas  be  established;  and  that  the 

161 


152  Democracy    Today 

territorial  claims  of  France  and  Italy,  the  perplex- 
ing problems  of  the  Balkan  States,  and  the  restitu- 
tion of  Poland  be  left  to  such  conciliatory  adjust- 
ments as  may  be  possible  in  the  new  temper  of  such 
a  peace,  due  regard  being  paid  to  the  aspirations  of 
the  peoples  whose  political  fortunes  and  affiliations 
will  be  involved. 

It  is  manifest  that  no  part  of  this  progratn  can  be 
successfully  carried  out  unless  the  restitution  of  the 
status  quo  ante  furnishes  a  firm  and  satisfactory 
basis  for  it.  The  object  of  this  war  is  to  deliver  the 
free  peoples  of  the  world  from  the  menace  and  the 
actual  power  of  a  vast  military  establishment  con- 
trolled by  an  irresponsible  Government  which,  hav- 
ing secretly  planned  to  dominate  the  world,  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  the  plan  out  without  regard  either 
to  the  sacred  obligations  of  treaty  or  the  long-estab- 
lished practices  and  long-cherished  principles  of 
international  action  and  honor;  which  chose  its  own 
time  for  the  war;  delivered  its  blow  fiercely  and 
suddenly;  stopped  at  no  barrier  either  of  law  or  of 
mercy;  swept  a  whole  continent  within  the  tide  of 
blood — not  the  blood  of  soldiers  only,  but  the  blood 
of  innocent  women  and  children  also  and  of  the 
helpless  poor;  and  now  stands  balked  but  not 
defeated,  the  enemy  of  four-fifths  of  the  world.  This 
power  is  not  the  German  people.  It  is  the  ruthless 
master  of  the  German  people.  It  is  no  business  of 
ours  how  that  great  people  came  under  its  control 
or  submitted  with  temporary  zest  to  the  domination 
of  its  purpose;  but  it  is  our  business  to  see  to  it 


Reply   to   the  Pope  153 

that  the  history  of  the  rest  of  the  world  is  no  longer 
left  to  its  handling. 

To  deal  with  such  a  power  by  way  of  peace  upon 
the  plan  proposed  by  his  Holiness  the  Pope  would, 
so  far  as  we  can  see,  involve  a  recuperation  of  its 
strength  and  a  renewal  of  its  policy ;  would  make  it 
necessary  to  create  a  permanent  hostile  combination 
of  nations  against  the  German  people,  who  are  its 
instruments;  and  would  result  in  abandoning  the 
new-born  Russia  to  the  intrigue,  the  manifold  suibtle 
interference,  and  the  certain  counter-revolution 
which  would  be  attempted  by  all  the  malign  influ- 
ences to  which  the  German  Government  has  of  late 
accustomed  the  world.  Can  peace  be  based  upon  a 
restitution  of  its  power  or  upon  any  word  of  honor 
it  could  pledge  in  a  treaty  of  settlement  and  accom- 
modation? 

Responsible  statesmen  must  now  everyw'here  see, 
if  they  never  saw  before,  that  no  peace  can  rest 
securely  upon  political  or  economic  restrictions  meant 
to  benefit  some  nations  and  cripple  or  embarrass 
others,  upon  vindictive  action  of  any  sort,  or  any 
kind  of  revenge  or  deliberate  injury.  The  Amer- 
ican i>eopIe  have  suffered  intolerable  wrongs  at  the 
hands  of  the  Imperial  German  Government,  but  they 
desire  no  reprisals  upon  the  German  people,  who 
have  themselves  suffered  all  things  in  this  war, 
which  they  did  not  choose.  They  believe  that  peace 
should  rest  upon  the  rights  of  peoples,  not  the  rights 
of  Governments — the  rights  of  i>eoples  great  or 
small,  weak  or  powerful — their  equal  right  to  free- 


154  Democracy    Today 

dom  and  security  and  self-government  and  to  a  par- 
ticipation upon  fair  terms  in  the  economic  oppor- 
tunities of  the  world,  the  German  people  of  course 
included  if  they  will  accept  equality  and  not  seek 
domination. 

The  test,  therefore,  of  every  plan  of  peace  is  this : 
Is  it  based  upon  the  faith  of  all  the  peoples  involved 
or  merely  upon  the  word  of  an  ambitious  and  intrig- 
uing Government,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  a  group 
of  free  peoples  on  the  other?  This  is  the  test  which 
goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter;  and  it  is  the  test 
which  must  be  applied. 

The  purposes  of  the  United  States  in  this  war  are 
known  to  the  whole  world,  to  every  people  to  whom 
the  truth  has  been  permitted  to  come.  They  do  not 
need  to  be  stated  again.  We  seek  no  material  advan- 
tage of  any  kind.  We  believe  that  the  intolerable 
wrongs  done  in  this  war  by  the  furious  and  brutal 
power  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  ought 
to  be  repaired,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  any  people — rather  a  vindication  of  the 
sovereignty  both  of  those  that  are  weak  and  of  those 
that  are  strong.  Punitive  damages,  the  dismember- 
ment of  empires,  the  establishment  of  selj5sh  and 
exclusive  economic  leagues,  we  deem  inexpedient 
and  in  the  end  worse  than  futile,  no  proper  basis 
for  a  peace  of  any  kind,  least  of  all  for  an  endur- 
ing peace.  That  must  be  based  upon  justice  and 
fairness  and  the  common  rights  of  mankind. 

We  cannot  take  the  word  of  the  present  rulers  of 
Germany    as   a   guarantee    of   anything   that   is  to 


Reply   to   the  Pope  155 

endure,  unless  explicitly  supported  by  such  con- 
clusive evidence  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  the  Ger- 
man people  themselves  as  the  other  peoples  of  the 
world  would  be  justified  in  accepting.  Without 
such  guarantees  treaties  of  settlement,  agreements 
for  disarmament,  covenants  to  set  up  arbitration  in 
the  place  of  force,  territorial  adjustments,  reconsti- 
tutions  of  small  nations,  if  made  with  the  German 
Government,  no  man,  no  nation  could  now  depend 
on.  We  must  await  some  new  evidence  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  great  peoples  of  the  Central  Powers. 
God  grant  it  may  be  given  soon  and  in  a  way  to 
restore  the  confidence  of  all  peoples  everywhere  in 
the  faith  of  nations  and  the  possibility  of  a  coven- 
anted peace. 

Robert  Lansing, 

Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of  America. 


WHY  WE   ARE   AT   WAR 
Frankun  K.  Lane 

Why  are  we  fighting  Germany?  The  brief  answer 
is  that  ours  is  a  war  of  self-defense.  We  did  not 
wish  to  fight  Germany.  She  made  the  attack  upon 
us;  not  on  our  shores,  but  on  our  ships,  our  lives, 
our  rights,  our  future.  For  two  years  and  more  we 
held  to  a  neutrality  that  made  us  apologists  for 
things  which  outraged  man's  common  sense  of  fair 
play  and  humanity.  At  each  new  offense — the  inva- 
sion of  Belgium,  the  killing  of  civilian  Belgians,  the 
attacks  on  Scarborough  and  other  defenseless  towns, 
the  laying  of  mines  in  neutral  waters,  the  fencing 
off  of  the  seas — and  on  and  on  through  the  months 
we  said:  "This  is  war — archaic,  uncivilized  war, 
but  war!  All  rules  have  been  thrown  away:  all 
Qobility;  man  has  come  down  to  the  primitive  brute. 
And  while  we  can  not  justify  we  will  not  intervene. 
It  is  not  our  war." 

Then  why  are  we  in?  Because  we  could  not  keep 
out.  The  invasion  of  Belgium,  which  opened  the 
war,  led  to  the  invasion  of  the  United  States  by 
slow,  steady,  logical  steps.  Our  sympathies  evolved 
into  a  conviction  of  self-interest.  Our  love  of  fair 
play  ripened  into  alarm  at  our  own  peril. 

We  talked  in  the  language  and  in  the  spirit  of 
good  faith  and  sincerity,  as  honest  men  should  talk, 
until  we  discovered  that  our  talk  was  construed  as 

156 


Why  We  Are  at  War  157 

cowardice.  And  Mexico  was  called  upon  to  invade 
us.  We  talked  as  men  would  talk  who  cared  alone 
for  peace  and  the  advancement  of  their  own  mate- 
rial interests,  until  we  discovered  that  we  were 
thought  to  be  a  nation  of  mere  money  makers,  devoid 
of  all  character — until,  indeed,  we  were  told  that  we 
could  not  walk  the  highways  of  the  world  without 
permission  of  a  Prussian  soldier;  that  our  ships 
might  not  sail  without  wearing  a  striped  uniform^ 
of  humiliation  upon  a  narrow  path  of  national  sub- 
servience. We  talked  as  men  talk  who  hope  for 
honest  agreement,  not  for  war,  until  we  found  that 
the  treaty  torn  to  pieces  at  Liege  was  but  the  sym- 
bol of  a  policy  that  made  agreements  worthless 
against  a  purpose  that  knew  no  word  but  success. 
And  so  we  came  into  this  war  for  ourselves.  It 
is  a  war  to  save  America — to  p^reserve  self-respect, 
to  justify  our  right  to  live  as  we  have  lived,  not  as 
some  one  else  wishes  us  to  live.  In  the  name  of 
freedom  we  challenge  with  ships  and  men,  money, 
and  an  undaunted  spirit,  that  word  "Verboten" 
which  Germany  has  written  upon  the  sea  and  upon 
the  land.  For  America  is  not  the  name  of  so  much 
territory.  It  is  a  living  spirit,  bom  in  travail, 
grown  in  the  rough  school  of  bitter  experiences,  a 
living  spirit  which  has  purpose  and  pride,  and  con- 
science— knows  why  it  wishes  to  live  and  to  what 
end,  knows  how  it  comes  to  be  respected  of  the 
world,  and  hopes  to  retain  that  respect  by  living  on 
with  the  light  of  Lincoln's  love  of  man  as  its  Old 
and  New  Testament,     It  is  more  precious  that  this 


158  Democracy    Today 

America  should  live  than  that  we  Americans  should 
live.  And  this  America,  as  we  now  see,  has  been 
challenged  from  the  first  of  this  war  by  the  strong 
arm  of  a  power  that  has  no  sympathy  with  our  pur- 
pose and  will  not  hesitate  to  destroy  us  if  the  law 
that  we  respect,  the  rights  that  are  to  us  sacred,  or 
the  spirit  that  we  have,  stand  across  her  set  will  to 
make  this  world  bow  before  her  policies,  backed  by 
her  organized  and  scientific  military  system.  The 
world  of  Christ — a  neglected  but  not  a  rejected 
Christ — has  come  again  face  to  face  with  the  world 
of  Mahomet,  who  willed  to  win  by  force. 

With  this  background  of  history  and  in  this  sense, 
then,  we  fight  Germany — 

Because  of  Belgium — invaded,  outraged,  enslaved, 
impoverished  Belgium,  We  can  not  forget  Liege, 
Louvain,  and  Cardinal  Mercier.  Translated  into 
terms  of  American  history,  these  names  stand  for 
Bunker  Hill,  Lexington,  and  Patrick  Henry.  . 

Because  of  France — invaded,  desecrated  France,  a 
million  of  whose  heroic  sons  have  died  to  save  the 
land  of  Lafayette.  Glorious  golden  France,  the  pre- 
server of  the  arts,  the  land  of  noble  spirit — the  first 
land  to  follow  our  lead  into  republican  liberty. 

Because  of  England — from  whom  came  the  laws, 
traditions,  standards  of  life,  and  inherent  love  of 
liberty  which  we  call  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  We 
defeated  her  once  upon  the  land  and  once  upon  the 
sea.^  But  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Africa,  and  Can- 
ada are  free  because  of  what  we  did.  And  they  are 
with  us  in  the  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 


Why    We    Are    at    War  159 

Because  of  Russia — New  Russia.  She  must  not  be 
overwhelmed  now.  Not  now,  surely,  when  she  is 
just  born  into  freedom.  Her  peasants  must  have 
their  chance;  they  must  go  to  school  to  Washing- 
ton, to  Jefferson,  and  to  Lincoln  until  they  know 
their  way  about  in  this  new,  strange  world  of  gov- 
ernment by  the  popular  will. 

Because  of  other  peoples,  with  their  rising  hope 
that  the  world  may  be  freed  from  government  by 
the  soldier. 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  she  sought  to 
terrorize  us  and  then  to  fool  us.  We  could  not 
believe  that  Germany  would  do  what  she  said  she 
would  do  upon  the  seas. 

We  still  hear  the  piteous  cries  of  children  coming 
up  out  of  the  sea  where  the  Lusitania  went  down. 
And  Germany  has  never  asked  forgiveness  of  the 
world. 

We  saw  the  8iissex  sunk,  crowded  with  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  neutral  nations. 

We  saw  ship  after  ship  sent  to  the  bottom — ships 
of  mercy  bound  out  of  America  for  the  Belgian 
starving ;  ships  carrying  the  Red  Cross  and  laden 
with  xhe  wounded  of  all  nations;  ships  carrying 
food  and  clothing  to  friendly,  harmless,  terrorized 
peoples;  ships  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes — sent  to 
the  bottom  hundreds  of  miles  from  shore,  manned 
by  American  seamen,  murdered  against  all  law,  with- 
out warning. 

We  believed  Germany's  promise  that  she  would 
respect  the  neutral  flag  and  the  rights  of  neutrals, 


160  Democracy    Today 

and  we  held  our  anger  and  outrage  in  check.  But 
now  we  see  that  she  was  holding  us  off  with  fair 
promises  until  she  could  build  her  huge  fleet  of  sub- 
marines.^ For  when  spring  came  she  blew  her  prom- 
ise into  the  air,  just  as  at  the  beginning  she  had 
torn  up  that ' '  scrap  of  paper. '  '^  Then  we  saw  clearly 
that  there  was  but  one  law  for  Germany — her  will 
to  rule. 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  she  violated  our 
confidence.  Paid  German  spies  filled  our  cities.  Offi- 
cials of  her  Government,  received  as  the  guests  of 
this  Nation,  lived  with  us  to  bribe  and  terrorize, 
defying  our  law  and  the  law  of  nations. 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  while  we  were 
yet  her  friends — the  only  great  power  that  still  held 
hands  off — she  sent  the  Zimmermann  note,^  calling  to 
her  aid  Mexico,  our  southern  neighbor,  and  hoping 
to  lure  Japan,  our  western  neighbor,  into  war 
against  this  Nation  of  peace. 

The  nation  that  would  do  these  things  proclaims 
the  gospel  that  government  has  no  conscience.  And 
this  doctrine  can  not  live,  or  else  democracy  must 
die.  For  the  nations  of  the  world  must  keep  faith. 
There  can  be  no  living  for  us  in  a  world  where  the 
state  has  no  conscience,  no  reverence  for  the  things 
of  the  spirit,  no  respect  for  international  law,  no 
mercy  for  those  who  fall  before  its  force.  What  an 
unordered  world!  Anarchy!  The  anarchy  of  rival 
wolf  packs! 

We  are  fighting  Germany  because  in  this  war  feu- 
dalism® is  making  its  last  stand  againbt  on-coming 


Why    We    Are    at    War  161 

democracy.  "We  see  it  now.  This  is  a  war  against 
an  old  spirit,  an  ancient,  outworn  spirit.  It  is  a 
war  against  feudalism — the  right  of  the  castle  on 
the  hill  to  rule  the  village  below.  It  is  a  war  for 
democracy — the  right  of  all  to  be  their  own  masters. 
Let  Germany  be  feudal  if  she  will,  but  she  must  not 
spread  her  system  over  the  world  that  has  outgrown 
it.  Feudalism  plus  science,  thirteenth  century  plus 
twentieth — this  is  the  religion  of  the  mistaken  Ger- 
many that  has  linked  itself  with  the  Turk ;  that  has, 
too,  adopted  the  method  of  Mahomet.  ''The  state 
has  no  conscience."  "The  state  can  do  no  wrong."'' 
With  the  spirit  of  the  fanatic  she  believes  this  gos- 
pel and  that  it  is  her  duty  to  spread  it  by  force. 
With  poison  gas  that  makes  living  a  hell,  with  sub- 
marines that  sneak  through  the  seas  to  slyly  murder 
noncombatants,  with  dirigibles  that  bombard  men 
and  women  while  they  sleep,  with  a  perfected  sys- 
tem of  terrorization  that  the  modern  world  first 
heard  of  when  German  troops  entered  China,^  Ger- 
man feudalism  is  making  war  upon  mankind.  Let 
this  old  spirit  of  evil  have  its  way  and  no  man  will 
live  in  America  without  paying  toll  to  it  in  man- 
hood and  in  money.  This  spirit  might  demand  Can- 
ada from  a  defeated,  navyless  England,  and  then 
our  dream  of  peace  on  the  north  would  be  at  an 
end.  We  would  live,  as  France  has  lived  for  forty 
years,  in  haunting  terror. 

America  speaks  for  the  world  in  fighting  Ger- 
many. Mark  on  a  map  those  countries  which  are 
Germany's  allies  and  you  will  mark  but  four,  run- 


162  Democracy    Today 

ning  from  the  Baltic  through  Austria  and  Bulgaria 
to  Turkey.  All  the  other  nations  the  whole  globe 
around  are  in  arms  against  her  or  are  unable  to 
move.  There  is  deep  meaning  in  this.  We  fight 
with  the  world  for  an  honest  world  in  which  nations 
keep  their  word,  for  a  world  in  which  nations  do 
not  live  by  swagger  or  by  threat,  for  a  world  in 
which  men  think  of  the  ways  in  which  they  can 
conquer  the  common  cruelties  of  nature  instead  of 
inventing  more  horrible  cruelties  to  inflict  upon  the 
spirit  and  body  of  man,  for  a  world  in  which  the 
ambition  or  the  philosophy  of  a  few  shall  not  make 
miserable  all  mankind,  for  a  world  in  which  the 
man  is  held  more  precious  than  the  machine,  the 
system,  or  the  state. 


THE  DUTIES   OF   THE   CITIZEN 
Elihu  Root 

[address   delivered  at   CHICAGO,   ILLINOIS,   SEPTEMBER 

14,  1917] 

The  declaration  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Germany  completely  changed  the  relations  of  all 
the  inhabitants  of  this  country  to  the  subject  of  peace 
and  war. 

Before  the  declaration  everybody  had  a  right  to 
discuss  in  private  and  in  public  the  question  whether 
the  United  States  should  carry  on  war  against  Grer- 
many.  Everybody  had  a  right  to  argue  that  there 
was  no  sufficient  cause  for  war,  that  the  consequences 
of  war  would  be  worse  than  the  consequences 
of  continued  peace,  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  submit 
to  the  aggressions  of  Germany  against  American 
rights,  that  it  would  be  better  to  have  Germany  suc- 
ceed than  to  have  the  allies  succeed  in  the  great  con- 
flict. 

Everybody  holding  these  views  had  a  right  by 
expressing  them  to  seek  to  influence  public  opinion 
and  to  affect  the  action  of  the  President  and  the  Con- 
gress, to  whom  the  people  of  the  country  by  their 
constitution  have  entrusted  the  power  to  determine 
whether  the  United  States  shall  or  shall  not  make  war. 

But  the  question  of  peace  or  war  has  now  been 
decided  by  the  President  and   Congress,   the  sole 

163      , 


164  Democracy    Today 

authorities  which  had  the  right  to  decide,  the  lawful 
authorities  upon  whom  rested  the  duty  to  decide.  The 
question  no  longer  remains  open.  It  has  been  deter- 
mined and  the  United  States  is  at  war  with  Germany. 

The  power  to  make  such  a  decision  is  the  most 
essential,  vital,  and  momentous  of  all  the  powers  of 
government.  No  nation  can  maintain  its  independ- 
ence or  protect  its  citizens  against  oppression  or  con- 
tinue to  be  free  which  does  not  vest  the  power  to 
make  that  decision  in  some  designated  authority,  or 
which  does  not  recognize  the  special  and  imperative 
duties  of  citizenship  in  time  of  war  following  upon 
such  a  decision  lawfully  made. 

One  of  the  cardinal  objects  of  the  Union  which 
formed  this  nation  was  to  create  a  lawful  authority 
whose  decision  and  action  upon  this  momentous  ques- 
tion should  bind  all  the  states  and  all  the  people  of 
every  state. 

The  constitution  under  which  we  have  lived  for  one 
hundred  and  thirty  years  declares :  ' '  We,  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  .  .  .  provide  for  the 
common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution."^ 

The  constitution  so  ordained  vests  in  Congress  the 
power  to  declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies,  to 
provide  and  maintain  a  navy,^  and  it  vests  in  the  Pres- 
ident the  power  to  command  the  army  and  navy.^ 

The  power  in  this  instance  was  exercised  not  sud- 
denly or  rashly,  but  advisedly,  after  a  long  delay  and 
discussion,    and   patience   under   provocation,    after 


The  Duties  of  the  Citizen  165 

repeated  diplomatic  warnings  to  Germany  known  to 
the  whole  country,  after  clear  notice  by  breach  of 
diplomatic  relations  with  Germany  that  the  question 
was  imminent,  after  long  opportunity  for  reflection 
and  discussion  following  that  notice,  and  after  a  for- 
mal and  deliberate  presentation  by  the  President  to 
Congress  of  the  reasons  for  action  in  an  address  which 
compelled  the  attention  not  of  Congress  alone  but  of 
all  Americans  and  of  all  the  world  and  which  must 
forever  stand  as  one  of  the  great  state  papers  of  mod- 
ern times. 

The  decision  was  made  by  overwhelming  majorities 
of  both  houses  of  Congress.^  When  such  a  decision 
has  been  made  the  duties — and  therefore  the  rights — 
of  all  the  people  of  the  country  immediately  change. 

It  becomes  their  duty  to  stop  discussion  upon  the 
question  decided,  and  to  act,  to  proceed  immediately 
to  do  everything  in  their  power  to  enable  the  govern- 
ment of  their  country  to  succeed  in  the  war  upon 
which  the  country  has  entered.  It  is  a  fundamental 
necessity  of  government  that  it  shall  have  the  power 
to  decide  great  questions  of  policy  and  to  act  upon  its 
decision. 

In  order  that  there  shall  be  action  following  a  deci- 
sion once'  made,  the  decision  must  be  accepted.  Dis- 
cussion upon  the  question  must  be  deemed  closed. 

A  nation  which  declares  war  and  goes  on  discussing 
whether  it  ought  to  have  declared  war  or  not  is  impo- 
tent, paralyzed,  imbecile,  and  earns  the  contempt  of 
mankind  and  the  certainty  of  humiliating  defeat  and 
subjection  to  foreign  control. 


166  Democracy    Today 

A  democracy  which  cannot  accept  its  own  decisions, 
made  in  accordance  with  its  own  laws,  but  must  keep 
on  endlessly  discussing  the  questions  already  decided, 
has  failed  in  the  fundamental  requirements  of  self- 
government;  and,  if  the  decision  is  to  make  war,  the 
failure  to  exhibit  capacity  for  self-government  by 
action  will  inevitably  result  in  the  loss  of  the  right  of 
self-government. 

Before  the  decision  of  a  proposal  to  make  war,  men 
may  range  themselves  upon  one  side  or  the  other  of 
the  question ;  but  after  the  decision  in  favor  of  war, 
the  country  has  ranged  itself,  and  the  only  issue  left 
for  the  individual  citizen  is  whether  he  is  for  or 
against  his  country.  From  that  time  on  arguments 
against  the  war  in  which  the  country  is  engaged  are 
enemy  arguments. 

Their  spirit  is  the  spirit  of  rebellion  against  the 
government  and  laws  of  the  United  States.  Their 
effect  is  to  hinder  and  lessen  that  popular  support  of 
the  government  in  carrying  on  the  war  which  is  nec- 
essary to  success.  Their  manifest  purpose  is  to  pre- 
vent action  by  continuing  discussion. 

They  encourage  the  enemy.  They  tend  to  introduce 
delay  and  irresolution  into  our  own  councils.  The 
men  who  are  speaking  and  writing  and  printing  argu- 
ments against  the  war  now,  and  against  everything 
which  is  being  done  to  carry  on  the  war,  are  render- 
ing more  effective  service  to  Germany  than  they  ever 
could  render  in  the  field  with  arms  in  their  hands. 

The  purpose  and  effect  of  what  they  are  doing  is  so 
plain  that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  167 

the  greater  part  of  them  are  at  heart  traitors  to  the 
United  States  and  wilfully  seeking  to  bring  about  the 
triumph  of  Germany  and  the  humiliation  and  defeat 
of  their  own  country. 

Somebody  has  to  decide  where  armies  are  to  fight, 
whether  our  territory  is  to  be  defended  by  waiting 
here  until  we  are  attacked  or  by  going  out  and  attack- 
ing the  enemy  before  they  get  here.  The  power  to 
make  that  decision  and  the  duty  to  make  it  rest  under 
the  constitution  of  this  country  with  the  President  as 
commander-in-chief. 

When  the  President  has  decided  that  the  best  way 
to  beat  Germany  is  to  send  our  troops  to  France  and 
Belgium,  that  is  the  way  the  war  must  be  carried  on, 
if  at  all. 

I  think  the  decision  was  wise.  Others  may  think  it 
unwise.  But,  when  the  decision  has  been  made,  what 
we  think  is  immaterial.  The  commander-in-chief,  with 
all  the  advice  and  all  the  wisdom  he  can  command, 
has  decided  when  and  where  the  American  army  is  to 
move.  The  army  must  obey,  and  all  loyal  citizens  of 
the  country  will  do  their  utmost  to  make  that  move- 
ment a  success. 

Anybody  who  seeks  by  argument  or  otherwise  to 
stop  the  execution  of  the  order  sending  troops  to 
France  and  Belgium  is  simply  trying  to  prevent  the 
American  government  from  carrying  on  the  war  suc- 
cessfully. He  is  aiding  the  enemies  of  his  country, 
and  if  he  understands  what  he  is  really  doing,  he  is 
a  traitor  at  heart. 


168  Democracy    Today 

It  is  beyond  doubt  that  many  of  the  professed  paci- 
fists, the  opponents  of  the  war  after  the  war  has  been 
entered  upon,  the  men  who  are  trying  to  stir  up  resist- 
ance to  the  draft,  the  men  who  are  inciting  strikes  in 
the  particular  branches  of  production  which  are  nec- 
essary for  the  supply  of  arms  and  munitions  of  war, 
are  intentionally  seeking  to  aid  Germany  and  defeat 
the  United  States. 

As  time  goes  on  and  the  character  of  these  acts 
becomes  more  and  more  clearly  manifest,  all  who  con- 
tinue to  associate  with  them  must  come  under  the 
same  condemnation  as  traitors  to  their  country. 

There  are  doubtless  some  who  do  not  understand 
what  this  struggle  really  is.  Some  who  were  bom 
here  resent  interference  with  their  comfort  and  pros- 
perity, and  the  demands  for  sacrifice  which  seem  to 
them  unnecessary,  and  they  fail  to  see  that  the  time 
has  come  when,  if  Americans  are  to  keep  the  inde- 
pendence and  liberty  which  their  fathers  won  by  suf- 
fering and  sacrifice,  they  in  their  turn  must  fight 
again  for  the  preservation  of  that  independence  and 
liberty. 

There  are  some  bom  abroad  who  have  come  to  this 
land  for  a  greater  freedom  and  broader  opportunities, 
and  have  sought  and  received  the  privileges  of  Amer- 
ican citizenship,  who  are  swayed  by  dislike  for  some 
ally  or  by  the  sympathies  of  German  kinship,  and  fail 
to  see  that  the  time  has  come  for  them  to  make  good 
the  obligations  of  their  sworn  oaths  of  naturalization. 

This  is  the  oath  that  the  applicant  for  citizenship 
makes : 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  169 

'  *  That  he  will  support  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  he  absolutely  and  entii'ely  renounces 
all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince,  poten- 
tate, state,  or  sovereignty;  that  he  will  support  and 
defend  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
against  all  enemies,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  bear 
true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  same." 

All  these  naturalized  citizens  who  are  taking  part 
in  this  obstruction  to  our  government  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war  are  false  to  their  oaths,  are  forfeiting  their 
rights  of  citizenship,  are  repudiating  their  honorable 
obligations,  are  requiting  by  evil  the  good  that  has 
been  done  them  in  the  generous  and  unstinted  hos- 
pitality with  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  welcomed  them  to  the  liberty  and  the  opportuni- 
ties of  this  free  land.  We  must  believe  that  in  many 
cases  this  is  done  because  of  failure  to  understand 
what  this  war  really  is. 

This  is  a  war  of  defense.  It  is  perfectly  described 
in  the  words  of  the  constitution  which  established  this 
nation:  "To  provide  for  the  common  defense"  and 
"To  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity." 

The  national  defense  demands  not  merely  force,  but 
intelligence.  It  requires  foresight,  consideration  of 
the  policies  and  purposes  of  other  nations,  understand- 
ing of  the  inevitable  or  probable  consequences  of  the 
acts  of  other  nations,  judgment  as  to  the  time  when 
successful  defense  may  be  made,  and  when  it  will  be 
too  late,  and  prompt  action  before  it  is  too  late. 


170  Democracy    Today 

By  entering  this  war  in  April,  the  United  States 
availed  itself  of  the  very  last  opportunity  to  defend 
itself  against  subjection  to  German  power  before  it 
was  too  late  to  defend  itself  successfully. 

For  many  years  we  have  pursued  our  peaceful 
course  of  internal  development  protected  in  a  variety 
of  ways.  We  were  protected  by  the  law  of  nations 
to  which  all  civilized  governments  have  professed  their 
allegiance.  So  long  as  we  committed  no  injustice  our- 
selves we  could  not  be  attacked  without  a  violation  of 
that  law. 

We  were  protected  by  a  series  of  treaties  under 
which  all  the  principal  nations  of  the  earth  agreed  to 
respect  our  rights  and  to  maintain  friendship  with 
us.  We  were  protected  by  an  extensive  system  of 
arbitration  created  by  or  consequent  upon  the  peace 
conferences  at  The  Hague,  and  under  which  all  con- 
troversies arising  under  the  law  and  under  treaties 
were  to  be  settled  peaceably  by  arbitration  and  not 
by  force. 

We  were  protected  by  the  broad  expanse  of  ocean 
separating  us  from  all  great  military  powers,  and  by 
the  bold  assertion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  that  if  any 
of  those  powers  undertook  to  overpass  the  ocean  and 
establish  itself  upon  these  western  continents  that 
would  be  regarded  as  dangerous  to  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  United  States,  and  would  call  upon  her 
to  act  in  her  defense. 

We  were  protected  by  the  fact  that  the  policy  and 
the  fleet  of  Great  Britain  were  well  known  to  support 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.    We  were  protected  by  the  deli- 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  171 

cate  balance  of  power  in  Europe  which  made  it  seem 
not  worth  while  for  any  power  to  engage  in  a  conflict 
here  at  the  risk  of  suffering  from  its  rivals  there. 

All  these  protections  were  swept  away  by  the  war 
which  began  in  Europe  in  1914.  The  war  was  begun 
by  the  concerted  action  of  Germany  and  Austria — the 
invasion  of  Serbia  on  the  east  by  Austria  and  the 
invasion  of  Luxembourg  and  Belgium  on  the  west  by 
Germany.  Both  invasions  were  in  violation  of  the 
law  of  nations,  and  in  violation  of  the  faith  of  treaties. 

Everybody  knew  that  Russia  was  bound  in  good 
faith  to  come  to  the  relief  of  Serbia,  that  France  was 
bound  by  treaty  to  come  to  the  aid  of  Russia,  that 
England  was  bound  by  treaty  to  come  to  the  aid  of 
Belgium,  so  that  the  invasion  of  these  two  small  states 
was  the  beginning  of  a  general  European  war. 

These  acts,  which  have  drenched  the  world  with 
blood,  were  defended  and  justified  in  the  bold  avowal 
of  the  German  government  that  the  interests  of  the 
German  state  were  superior  to  the  obligations  of  law 
and  the  faith  of  treaties,^  that  no  law  or  treaty  was 
binding  upon  Germany  which  it  was  for  the  interest 
of  Germany  to  violate. 

All  pretense  of  obedience  to  the  law  of  nations  and 
of  respect  for  solemn  promises  was  thrown  off;  and, 
in  lieu  of  that  system  of  lawful  and  moral  restraint 
upon  power  which  Christian  civilization  has  been 
building  up  for  a  century  was  reinstated  the  cynical 
philosophy  of  Frederick  the  Great,  the  greatest  of  the 
Hohenzollerns,  who  declares: 


172  Democracy    Today 

* '  Statesmanship  can  be  reduced  to  three  principles : 
First,  to  maintain  your  power,  and,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, to  extend  it.  Second,  to  form  an  alliance 
only  for  your  own  advantage.  Third,  to  command 
fear  and  respect,  even  in  the  most  disastrous  times. 

*  *  Do  not  be  ashamed  of  making  interested  alliances 
from  which  you  yourself  can  derive  the  whole  advan- 
tage. Do  not  make  the  foolish  mistake  of  not  break- 
ing them  when  you  believe  your  interests  require  it. 

' '  Above  all,  uphold  the  following  maxim :  To 
despoil  your  neighbors  is  to  deprive  them  of  the  means 
of  injuring  you. 

"When  he  is  about  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  some 
foreign  power,  if  a  sovereign  remembers  he  is  a  Chris- 
tion,  he  is  lost. ' ' 

From  1914  until  the  present,  in  a  war  waged  by 
Germany  with  a  revolting  barbarity  unequaled  since 
the  conquests  of  Genghis  Khan,^  Germany  has  violated 
every  rule  agreed  upon  by  civilized  nations  in  mod- 
ern times  to  mitigate  the  barbarities  of  war  or  to  pro- 
tect the  rights  of  noncombatants  and  neutrals.  She 
had  no  grievance  against  Belgium  except  that  Bel- 
gium stood  upon  her  admitted  rights  and  refused  to 
break  the  faith  of  her  treaties  by  consenting  that  the 
neutrality  of  her  territory  should  be  violated  to  give 
Germany  an  avenue  for  the  attack  upon  France. 

She  has  taken  possession  of  the  territory  of  Belgium 
and  subjected  her  people  to  the  hard  yoke  of  a  brutal 
soldiery.  She  has  extorted  vast  sums  from  her  peace- 
ful cities.  She  has  burned  her  towns  and  battered 
down  her  noble  churches.    She  has  stripped  the  Bel- 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  173 

gian  factories  of  their  machinery  and  deprived  them 
of  the  raw  material  of  manufacture. 

She  has  carried  away  her  workmen  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands into  slavery,  and  her  women  into  worse  than 
slavery.  She  has  slain  peaceful  noncombatants  by  the 
hundred,  undeterred  by  the  helplessness  of  age,  of 
infancy,  or  of  womanhood.  She  has  done  the  same  in 
northern  France,  in  Poland,  in  Serbia,  in  Roumania. 

In  all  of  these  countries  women  have  been  outraged 
by  the  thousand,  by  tens  of  thousand,  and  who  ever 
heard  of  a  German  soldier  being  punished  for  rape, 
or  robbery,  or  murder?  These  revolting  outrages 
upon  humanity  and  law  are  not  the  casual  incidents 
of  war,  but  are  the  results  of  a  settled  policy  of  fright- 
fulness  answering  to  the  maxim  of  the  Great  Fred- 
erick to  ' '  command  respect  through  fear. ' ' 

"Why  were  these  things  done  by  Germany?  The 
answer  rests  upon  the  accumulated  evidence  of  Ger- 
man acts  and  German  words  so  conclusive  that  no  pre- 
tense can  cover  it,  no  sophistry  can  disguise  it.  The 
answer  is  that  this  war  was  begun  and  these  crimes 
against  humanity  were  done  because  Germany  was 
pursuing  the  hereditary  policy  of  the  HohenzoUerns 
and  following  the  instincts  of  the  arrogant  military 
caste  which  rules  Prussia,  to  grasp  the  over-lordship 
of  the  civilized  world  and  establish  an  empire  in  which 
she  should  play  the  role  of  ancient  Rome. 

They  were  done  because  Prussian  militarism  still 
pursues  the  policy  of  power  through  conquest,  of 
aggrandizement  through  force  and  fear,  which  in  little 
more  than  two  centuries  has  brought  the  puny  mark 


174  Democracy    today 

of  Brandenburg'^ — with  its  million  and  a  half  of 
people  to  the  control  of  a  vast  empire — ^the  greatest 
armed  force  of  the  modern  world. 

It  now  appears  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  that 
this  war  was  made  by  Germany  pursuing  a  long  and 
settled  purpose.  For  many  years  she  has  been  pre- 
paring to  do  exactly  what  she  has  done  with  a  thor- 
oughness, a  perfection  of  plans,  and  a  vastness  of  pro- 
vision in  men,  munitions,  and  supplies  never  before 
equaled  or  approached  in  human  history. 

She  brought  the  war  on  when  she  chose,  because 
she  chose,  in  the  belief  that  she  could  conquer  the 
earth,  nation  by  nation. 

All  nations  are  egotistical,  all  peoples  think  most 
highly  of  their  own  qualities,  and  regard  other  peo- 
ples as  inferior ;  but  the  egotism  of  the  ruling  class  of 
Prussia  is  beyond  all  example  and  it  is  active  and 
aggressive.  They  believe  that  Germany  is  entitled  to 
rule  the  world  by  virtue  of  her  superiority  in  all  these 
qualities  which  they  include  under  the  term  "kultur," 
and  by  reason  of  her  power  to  compel  submission  by 
the  sword. 

That  belief  does  not  evaporate  in  theory.  It  is 
translated  into  action,  and  this  war  is  the  action  which 
results.  This  belief  of  national  superiority  and  the 
right  to  assert  it  everywhere  is  a  tradition  from  the 
Great  Frederick.^  It  has  been  instilled  into  th'^  minds 
of  the  German  people  through  all  the  universities  and 
schools.  It  has  been  preached  from  her  pulpits  and 
taught  by  her  philosophers  and  historians.  It  has 
been  maintained  by  her  government  and  it  will  never 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  175 

cease  to  furnish  the  motive  for  the  people  of  Prussia 
so  long  as  German  power  enables  the  military  auto- 
cracy of  Prussia  to  act  upon  it  with  success. 

Plainly,  if  the  power  of  the  German  government  is 
to  continue,  America  can  no  longer  look  for  protection 
to  the  law  of  nations  or  the  faith  of  treaties  or  the 
instincts  of  humanity  or  the  restraints  of  modem 
civilization. 

Plainly,  also,  if  we  had  stayed  out  of  the  war  and 
Germany  had  won  there  would  no  longer  have  been 
a  balance  of  power  in  Europe  or  a  British  fleet  to  sup- 
port the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  protect  America. 

Does  any  one  indulge  in  the  foolish  assumption  that 
Germany  would  not  then  have  extended  her  lust  for 
power  by  conquest  to  the  American  continent?  Let 
him  consider  what  it  is  for  which  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  been  chiefly  contending  for  centuries 
past. 

It  has  been  for  colonies.  It  has  been  to  bring  the 
unoccupied  or  weakly  held  spaces  of  the  earth  under 
their  flags  and  their  political  control,  in  order  to 
increase  their  trade  and  their  power. 

Spain,  Holland,  Portugal,  England,  France,  have 
all  had  their  turn,  and  have  covered  the  earth  with 
their  possessions.  For  thirty  years  Germany,  the  last 
comer,  has  been  pressing  forward  with  feverish  activ- 
ity the  acquisition  of  stations  for  her  power  on  every 
coast  and  every  sea,  restive  and  resentful  because  she 
has  been  obliged  to  take  what  others  have  left. 

Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  have  been  taken  up.  The 
Americas  alone  remain.    Here  in  the  vast  and  unde- 


176  Democracy    Today 

fended  spaces  of  the  new  world,  fraught  with  poten- 
tial wealth  incalculable,  Germany  could  "find  a  place 
in  the  sun,"  to  use  her  emperor's  phrase;  Germany 
could  find  her  ' '  liberty  of  national  evolution, ' '  to  use 
his  phrase  again.  Every  traditional  policy,  every 
instinct  of  predatory  Prussia,  would  urge  her  into  this 
new  field  of  aggrandizement. 

"What  would  prevent  ?  The  Monroe  doctrine  ?  Yes. 
But  what  is  the  Monroe  doctrine  as  against  a  nation 
which  respects  only  force  unless  it  can  be  maintained 
by  force  1  We  already  know  how  the  German  govern- 
ment feels  about  the  Monroe  doctrine. 

Bismarck  declared  it  to  be  a  piece  of  colossal  impu- 
dence; and,  when  President  Roosevelt  interfered  to 
assert  the  doctrine  for  the  protection  of  Venezuela, 
the  present  kaiser  declared  that  if  he  then  had  a  larger 
navy  he  would  have  taken  America  by  the  scruff  of 
the  neck.^ 

If  we  had  stayed  out  of  the  war,  and  Germany  had 
won,  we  should  have  had  to  defend  the  Monroe  doc- 
trine by  force  or  abandon  it ;  and  if  we  abandoned  it 
there  would  have  been  a  German  naval  base  in  the 
Caribbean  commanding  the  Panama  canal,  depriving 
us  of  that  strategic  line  which  unites  our  eastern  and 
western  coasts,  and  depriving  us  of  the  protection  the 
expanse  of  ocean  once  gave,  and  an  America  unable 
or  unwilling  to  protect  herself  against  the  establish- 
ment of  a  German  naval  base  in  the  Caribbean  would 
lie  at  the  mercy  of  Germany,  and  subject  to  Ger- 
many's orders. 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  177 

America's  independence  would  be  gone  unless  she 
was  ready  to  fight  for  it,  and  her  security  would 
thenceforth  be  not  a  security  of  freedom,  but  only  a 
security  purchased  by  submission. 

But  if  America  had  stayed  out  of  the  war  and  Ger- 
many had  won,  could  we  have  defended  the  Monroe 
doctrine?  Could  we  have  maintained  our  independ- 
ence? For  an  answer  to  that  question  consider  what 
we  have  been  doing  since  the  2d  of  April  last,  when 
war  was  declared. 

Congress  has  been  in  continuous  session  passing 
with  unprecedented  rapidity  laws  containing  grants 
of  power  and  of  money  unexampled  in  our  history. 
The  executive  establishment  has  been  straining  every 
nerve  to  prepare  for  war.  The  ablest  and  strongest 
leaders  of  industrial  tctivity  have  been  called  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  to  aid  the  government. 

The  people  of  the  country  have  generously 
responded  with  noble  loyalty  and  enthusiasm  to  tht 
call  for  the  surrender  of  money  and  of  customary 
rights,  and  the  supply  of  men  to  the  service  of  the 
country. 

Nearly  half  a  year  has  passed,  and  still  we  are  nov 
ready  to  fight.  I  am  not  blaming  the  government. 
It  was  inevitable.  Preparation  for  modern  war  can- 
not be  made  briefly  or  speedily.  It  requires  time — ■ 
long  periods  of  time;  and  the  more  peaceful  and 
unprepared  for  war  a  democracy  is  the  longer  is  the 
time  required. 

It  would  have  required  just  as  long  for  America  to 
prepare  for  war  if  we  had  stayed  out  of  this  war  and 


178  Democracy    Today 

Germany  had  won  and  we  had  undertaken  to  defend 
the  Monroe  doctrine  or  to  defend  our  coasts  when  we 
had.  lost  the  protection  of  the  Monroe  doctrine.  Month 
after  month  would  have  passed  with  no  adequate  army- 
ready  to  fight,  just  as  these  recent  months  have  pasred. 

But  what  would  Germany  have  been  doing  in*  the 
meantime?  How  long  would  it  have  been  before  our 
attempts  at  preparation  would  have  been  stopped  by 
German  arms?  A  country  that  is  forced  to  defend 
itself  against  the  aggression  of  a  military  autocracy 
always  prepared  for  war  must  herself  be  prepared  for 
war  beforehand  or  she  never  will  have  the  opportunity 
to  prepare. 

The  history,  the  character,  the  avowed  principles  of 
action,  the  manifest  and  undisguised  purposes  of  the 
German  autocracy  made  it  clear  and  certain  that  if 
America  stayed  out  of  the  great  war,  and  Germany 
won,  America  would  forthwith  be  required  to  defend 
herself  and  would  be  unable  to  defend  herself  against 
the  same  lust  for  conquest,  the  same  will  to  dominate 
the  world,  which  has  made  Europe  a  bloody  shambles. 

When  Germany  did  actually  apply  her  principles 
of  action  to  us,  and  by  the  invasion  of  Belgium  she 
violated  the  solemn  covenant  she  has  made  with  us^®  to 
observe  the  law  of  neutrality  established  for  the  pro- 
tection of  peaceful  states,  when  she  had  arrogantly 
demanded  that  American  commerce  should  surrender 
its  lawful  right  of  passage  upon  the  high  seas  under 
penalty  of  destruction,  when  she  had  sunk  American 
ships  and  sent  to  their  death  hundreds  of  American 
citizens,  peaceful  men,  women,  and  children,  when  the 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  179 

Gulflight  and  the  Falaha  and  the  Persia  and  the 
Arabic  and  the  Sussex  and  the  Lusitania  had  been 
torpedoed  without  warning  in  contempt  of  law  and 
of  humanity,  when  the  German  embassy  at  Washing- 
ton had  been  found  to  be  the  headquarters  of  a  vast 
conspiracy  of  corruption  within  our  country  inciting 
sedition  and  concealing  infernal  machines  in  the  car- 
goes of  our  ships  and  blowing  up  our  factories  with 
the  workmen  laboring  in  them,  and  when  the  govern- 
ment of  Germany  had  been  discovered  attempting  to 
incite  Mexico  and  Japan  to  form  a  league  with  her  to 
attack  us  and  to  bring  about  a  dismemberment  of  our 
territory,  then  the  question  presented  to  the  American 
people  was  not  what  shall  be  done  regarding  each  of 
these  specific  aggressions  taken  by  itself,  but  what 
shall  be  done  by  America  to  defend  her  commerce,  her 
territory,  her  citizens,  her  independence,  her  liberty, 
her  life  as  a  nation  against  the  continuance  of  assaults 
already  begun  by  that  mighty  and  conscienceless 
power  which  had  swept  aside  every  restraint  and 
every  principle  of  Christian  civilization  and  was  seek- 
ing to  force  upon  a  subjugated  world  the  dark  and 
cruel  rule  of  a  barbarous  past. 

The  question  was  how  shall  peaceful  and  unpre- 
pared and  liberty  loving  America  save  herself  from 
subjection  to  the  military  power  of  Germany.  There 
was  but  one  possible  answer.  There  was  but  one 
chance  for  rescue  and  that  was  to  act  at  once  while 
the  other  democracies  of  the  world  were  still  main- 
taining their  liberty  against  the  oppressor,  to  prepare 
at  once  while  the  armies  and  the  navies  of  England 


180  Democracy    Today 

and  France  and  Italy  and  Russia  and  Roumania  were 
holding  down  Germany  so  that  she  could  not  attack 
us  while  our  preparation  was  but  half  accomplished, 
to  strike  while  there  were  allies  loving  freedom  like 
ourselves  to  strike  with  us,  to  do  our  share  to  prevent 
the  German  kaiser  from  acquiring  that  domination 
over  the  world  which  would  have  left  us  without 
friends  to  aid  us,  without  preparation,  and  without 
the  possibility  of  successful  defense. 

The  instinct  of  the  American  democracy  which  led 
it  to  act  when  it  did  arose  from  .a  long  delayed  and 
reluctant  consciousness  still  vague  and  half  expressed, 
that  this  is  no  ordinary  war  which  the  world  is  wag- 
ing. It  is  no  contest  for  petty  policies  and  profits. 
It  is  a  mighty  and  all-embracing  struggle  between  two 
conflicting  principles  of  human  right  and  human' 
duty. 

It  is  a  conflict  between  the  divine  right  of  kings  to 
govern  mankind  through  armies  and  nobles  and  the 
right  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth  to  toil  and  endure 
and  aspire  to  govern  themselves  by  law  in  the  free- 
dom of  individual  manhood. 

It  is  the  climax  of  the  supreme  struggle  between 
autocracy  and  democracy.  No  nation  can  stand  aside 
and  be  free  from  its  effects.  The  two  systems  cannot 
endure  together  in  the  same  world. 

If  autocracy  triumphs,  military  power  lustful  of 
dominion,  supreme  in  strength,  intolerant  of  human 
rights,  holding  itself  superior  to  law,  to  morals,  to 
faith,  to  compassion,  will  crush  out  the  free  democ- 
racies of  the  world.     If  autocracy  is  defeated  and 


The    Duties    of    the    Citizen  181 

nations  are  compelled  to  recognize  the  rules  of  law 
and  of  morals,  then  and  then  only  will  democracy  be 
safe. 

To  this  great  conflict  for  human  rights  and  human 
liberty  America  has  committed  herself.  There  can  be 
no  backward  step.  There  must  be  either  humiliating 
and  degrading  submission  or  terrible  defeat  or  glori- 
ous victory.  It  was  no  human  will  that  brought  us  to 
this  pass.  It  was  not  the  President.  If  was  not  Con- 
gress. It  was  not  the  press.  It  was  not  any  political 
party.    It  was  not  any  section  or  part  of  our  people. 

It  was  that  in  the  providence  of  God  the  mighty 
forces  that  determine  the  destinies  of  mankind  beyond 
the  control  of  human  purpose  have  brought  to  us  the 
time,  the  occasion,  the  necessity,  that  this  peaceful 
people  so  long  enjoying  the  blessings  of  liberty  and 
justice  for  which  their  fathers  fought  and  sacrificed 
shall  again  gird  themselves  for  conflict,  and  with  all 
the  forces  of  manhood  nurtured  and  strengthened  by 
liberty  offer  again  the  sacrifice  of  possessions  and  of 
life  itself,  that  this  nation  may  still  be  free,  that  the 
mission  of  American  democracy  shall  not  have  failed, 
that  the  world  shall  be  free. 


WHAT  DEMOCRACY  MEANS 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address  before  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION   OF  LABOR 
DELIVERED  AT  BUFFALO,  NEW  YORK,  NOV.   12,  1917] 

I  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  and  a  real  honor  to  be 
thus  admitted  to  your  public  councils.  When  your 
executive  committee  paid  me  the  compliment  of  invit- 
ing me  here  I  gladly  accepted  the  invitation  because 
it  seems  to  me  that  this  above  all  other  times  in  our 
history  is  the  time  for  common  counsel,  for  the  draw- 
ing not  only  of  the  energies  but  of  the  minds  of  the 
nation  together. 

I  thought  that  it  was  a  welcome  opportunity  for 
disclosing  to  you  some  of  the  thoughts  that  have  been 
gathering  in  my  mind  during  the  last  momentous 
months. 

I  am  introduced  to  you  as  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  yet  I  would  be  pleased  if  you  would 
put  the  thought  of  the  office  into  the  background  and 
regard  me  as  one  of  your  fellow  citizens  who  has  come 
here  to  speak  not  the  words  of  authority  but  the 
words  of  counsel,  the  words  which  men  should  speak 
to  one  another  who  wish  to  be  frank  in  a  moment 
more  critical  perhaps  than  the  history  of  the  world 
has  ever  yet  known,  a  moment  when  it  is  every  man's 
duty  to  forget  himself,  to  forget  his  own  interests,  to 
fill  himself  with  the  nobility  of  a  great  national  and 

182 


What  Democracy  Means  183 

world  conception  and  act  upon  a  new  platform  ele- 
vated above  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  elevated  to 
where  men  have  views  of  the  long  destiny  of  man- 
kind. 

I  think  that  in  order  to  realize  just  what  this 
moment  of  counsel  is,  it  is  very  desirable  that  we 
should  remind  ourselves  just  how  this  war  came  about 
and  just  what  it  is  for.  You  can  explain  most  wars 
very  simply,  but  the  explanation  of  this  is  not  so  sim- 
ple. Its  roots  run  deep  into  all  the  obscure  soils  of 
history,  and  in  my  view  this  is  the  last  decisive  issue 
between  the  old  principles  of  power  and  the  new 
principles  of  freedom. 

The  war  was  started  by  Germany.  Her  authorities 
deny  that  they  started  it.  But  I  am  willing  to  let  the 
statement  I  have  just  made  await  the  verdict  of  his- 
tory. And  the  thing  that  needs  to  be  explained  is 
why  Germany  started  the  war. 

Remember  what  the  position  of  Germany  in  the 
world  was — as  enviable  a  position  as  any  nation  has 
ever  occupied.  The  whole  world  stood  at  admiration 
of  her  wonderful  intellectual  and  material  achieve- 
ments, and  all  the  intellectual  men  of  the  world  went 
to  school  to  her.  As  a  university  man  I  have  been 
surrounded  by  men  trained  in  Germany,  men  who  had 
resorted  to  Germany  because  nowhere  else  could  they 
get  such  thorough  and  searching  training,  particu- 
larly in  the  principles  of  science  and  the  principles 
that  underlie  modern  material  achievements. 

Her  men  of  science  had  made  her  industries  per- 
haps the  most  competent  industries  in  the  world,  and 


184  Democracy    Today 

the  label,  "Made  in  Germany,"  was  a  guarantee  of 
good  workmanship  and  of  sound  material.  She  had 
access  to  all  the  markets  of  the  world,  and  every  other 
man  who  traded  in  those  markets  feared  Germany 
because  of  her  effective  and  almost  irresistible  com- 
petition. 

She  had  a  place  in  the  sun.  Why  was  she  not  satis- 
fied ?  What  more  did  she  want  ?  There  was  nothing 
in  the  world  of  peace  that  she  did  not  already  have 
and  have  in  abundance. 

We  boast  of  the  extraordinary  pace  of  American 
advancement.  We  show  with  pride  the  statistics  of 
the  increase  of  our  industries  and  of  the  population 
of  our  cities.  Well,  those  statistics  did  not  match  the 
recent  statistics  of  Germany.  Her  old  cities  took  on 
youth,  grew  faster  than  any  American  city  ever  grew ; 
her  old  industries  opened  their  eyes  and  saw  a  new 
world  and  went  out  for  its  conquest;  and  yet  the 
authorities  of  Germany  were  not  satisfied. 

You  have  one  part  of  the  answer  to  the  question 
why  she  was  not  satisfied  in  her  methods  of  competi- 
tion. There  is  no  important  industry  in  Germany 
upon  which  the  government  has  not  laid  its  hands  to 
direct  it,  and  when  necessity  arise,  control  it. 

You  have  only  to  ask  any  man  whom  you  meet, 
who  is  familiar  with  the  conditions  that  prevailed 
before  the  war  in  the  matter  of  international  compe- 
tition, to  find  out  the  methods  of  competition  which 
the  German  manufacturers  and  exporters  used  under 
the  patronage  and  support  of  the  government  of  Ger- 
many.^   You  will  find  that  they  were  the  same  sorts  of 


What   Democracy   Means  185 

competition  that  we  have  tried  to  prevent  by  law 
within  our  own  borders. 

If  they  could  not  sell  their  goods  cheaper  than  we 
could  sell  ours  at  a  profit  to  themselves,  they  could 
get  a  subsidy  from  the  government  which  made 
it  possible  to  sell  them  cheaper  anyhow,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  competition  were  thus  controlled  in  large 
measure  by  the  German  government  itself.  But  that 
did  not  satisfy  the  German  government. 

All  the  while  there  was  lying  behind  its  thought,  in 
its  dreams  of  the  future,  a  political  control  which 
would  enable  it  in  the  long  run  to  dominate  the  labor 
and  the  industry  of  the  world.  They  were  not  content 
with  success  by  superior  achievement;  they  wanted 
success  by  authority. 

I  suppose  few  of  you  have  thought  much  about  the 
Berlin  to  Bagdad  railway.^  The  Berlin  to  Bagdad 
railway  was  constructed  in  order  to  run  the  threat  of 
force  down  the  flank  of  the  industrial  undertakings 
of  half  a  dozen  other  countries,  so  that  when  German 
competition  came  in  it  would  not  be  resisted  too  far 
— ^because  there  was  always  the  possibility  of  getting 
German  armies  into  the  heart  of  that  country  quicker 
than  any  other  armies  could  be  got  there. 

Look  at  the  map  of  Europe  now.  Germany,  in 
thrusting  upon  us  again  and  again  the  discussion  of 
peace  talks  about  what?  Talks  about  Belgium,  talks 
about  northern  France,  talks  about  Alsace-Lorraine. 
Those  are  deeply  interesting  subjects  to  us  and  to 
them,  but  they  are  not  talking  about  the  heart  of  the 
matter. 


186  Democracy    Today 

Take  the  map  and  look  at  it.  Germany  has  abso- 
lute control  of  Austria-Hungary,  practical  control  of 
the  Balkan  states,  control  of  Turkey,  control  of  Asia 
Minor.  I  saw  a  map  in  which  the  whole  thing  was 
printed  in  appropriate  black  the  other  day  and  the 
black  stretched  all  the  way  from  Hamburg  to  Bagdad 
— the  bulk  of  German  power  inserted  into  the  heart  of 
the  world. 

If  it  can  keep  that  she  has  kept  all  that  her  dreams 
contemplated  when  the  war  began.  If  she  can  keep 
that,  her  power  can  disturb  the  world  as  long  as  she 
keeps  it,  always  provided,  for  I  feel  bound  to  put  this 
proviso  in,  alwaj^s  provided  the  present  influences 
that  control  the  German  government  continue  to  con- 
trol it. 

I  believe  that  the  spirit  of  freedom  can  get  into  the 
hearts  of  Germans  and  find  as  fine  a  welcome  there 
as  it  can  find  in  any  other  hearts.  But  the  spirit  of 
freedom  does  not  suit  the  plans  of  the  Pan-Germans.^ 
Power  cannot  be  used  with  concentrated  force  against 
free  peoples  if  it  is  used  by  free  people. 

You  know  how  many  intimations  come  to  us  from 
one  of  the  central  powers  that  it  is  more  anxious  for 
peace  than  the  chief  central  power;  and  you  know 
that  it  means  that  the  people  in  that  central  power 
know  that  if  the  war  ends  as  it  stands,  they  will  in 
effect  themselves  be  vassals  of  Germany,  notwithstand- 
ing that  their  populations  are  compounded  with  all 
the  people  of  that  part  of  the  world,  and  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  they  do  not  wish  in  their  pride 


Wh/rt    Democracy   Means  187 

and  proper  spirit  of  nationality  to  be  so  absorbed  and 
dominated, 

Germany  is  determined  that  the  political  power  oi 
the  world  shall  belong  to  her.  There  have  been  such 
ambitions  before.  They  have  been  in  part  realized. 
But  never  before  have  those  ambitions  been  based 
upon  so  exact  and  precise  and  scientific  a  plan  of 
domination. 

May  I  not  say  that  it  is  amazing  to  me  that  any 
group  of  people  should  be  so  ill-informed  as  to  sup- 
pose, as  some  groups  in  Russia  apparently  suppose, 
that  any  reforms  planned  in  the  interest  of  the  people 
can  live  in  the  presence  of  a  Germany  powerful 
enough  to  undermine  or  overthrow  them  by  intrigue 
or  force?  Any  body  of  free  men  that  compounds  with 
the  present  German  government  is  compounding  for 
its  own  destruction.  But  that  is  not  the  whole  of  the 
story.  Any  man  in  America,  or  anywhere  else,  who 
supposes  that  the  free  industry  and  enterprise  of  the 
world  can  continue  if  the  Pan-German  plan  is 
achieved  and  German  power  fastened  upon  the  world 
is  as  fatuous  as  the  dreamers  of  Russia. 

What  I  am  opposed  to  is  not  the  feeling  of  the 
pacifists,  but  their  stupidity.  My  heart  is  with  them, 
but  my  mind  has  a  contempt  for  them.  I  want  peace, 
but  I  know  how  to  get  it,  and  they  do  not. 

You  will  notice  that  I  sent  a  friend  of  mine.  Colonel 
House,  to  Europe,^  who  is  as  great  a  lover  of  peace  as 
any  man  in  the  world ;  but  I  did  not  send  him  on  a 
peace  mission ;  I  sent  him  to  take  part  in  a  conference 
as  to  how  the  war  was  to  be  won ;  and  he  knows,  as  I 


188  Democracy   Today 

know,  that  this  is  the  way  to  get  peace,  if  you  want 
it  for  more  than  a  few  minutes. 

All  of  this  is  a  preface  to  the  conference  that  I 
referred  to  with  regard  to  what  we  are  going  to  do. 
If  we  are  true  friends  of  freedom — our  own  or  any- 
body else's — we  will  see  that  the  power  of  this  coun- 
try and  the  productivity  of  this  country  is  raised  to 
its  absolute  maximum  and  that  absolutely  nobody  is 
allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  it. 

When  I  say  that  nobody  is  allowed  to  stand  in  the 
way,  I  don't  mean  that  they  shall  be  prevented  by 
the  power  of  the  government,  but  by  the  power  of 
the  American  spirit.  Our  duty,  if  we  are  to  do  this 
great  thing  and  show  America  to  be  what  we  believe 
her  to  be,  the  greatest  hope  and  energy  of  the  world, 
then  we  must  stand  together  night  and  day  until  the 
job  is  finished. 

While  we  are  fighting  for  freedom  we  must  see, 
among  other  things,  that  labor  is  free ;  and  that  means 
a  number  of  interesting  things.  It  means  not  only 
that  we  must  do  what  we  have  declared  our  purpose 
to  do — see  that  the  conditions  of  labor  are  not  ren- 
dered more  onerous  by  the  war — but  also  that  we  shall 
see  to  it  that  the  instrumentalities  by  which  the  con- 
ditions of  labor  are  improved  are  not  blocked  or 
checked. 

That  we  must  do.  That  has  been  the  matter  about 
which  I  have  taken  pleasure  in  conferring  from  time 
to  time  with  your  president,  Mr.  Gompers.  And,  if 
I  may  be  permitted  to  do  so,  I  want  to  express  my 
admiration  of  his  patriotic  courage,  his  large  vision, 


What   Democracy   Means  189 

and  his  statesmanlike  sense  of  what  is  to  be  done.  I 
like  to  lay  my  mind  alongside  of  a  mind  that  knows 
how  to  pull  in  harness.  The  horses  that  kick  over 
the  traces  will  have  to  be  put  in  a  corral. 

Now,  to  "stand  the  ground"  means  that  nobody 
must  interrupt  the  processes  of  our  energy,  if  the 
interruption  can  possibly  be  avoided  without  the  abso- 
lute invasion  of  freedom.  To  put  it  concretely  that 
means  this :  Nobody  has  a  right  to  stop  the  processes 
of  labor  until  all  the  methods  of  conciliation  and  set- 
tlement have  been  exhausted ;  and  I  might  as  well  say 
right  here  that  I  am  not  talking  to  you  alone. 

You  sometimes  stop  the  courses  of  labor,  but  there 
are  others  who  do  the  same.  And  I  believe  that  I  am 
speaking  of  my  own  experience  not  only  but  of  the 
experience  of  others,  when  I  say  that  you  are  reason- 
able in-  a  larger  number  of  cases  than  the  capitalists. 

I  am  not  saying  these  things  to  them  personally 
yet,  because  I  haven't  had  a  chance.  But  in  order' to 
clear  the  atmosphere  and  come  down  to  business  every- 
body on  both  sides  has  got  to  transact  business,  and 
the  settlement  is  never  impossible  when  both  sides 
want  to  do  the  square  and  right  thing.  Moreover,  a 
settlement  is  always  hard  to  avoid  when  the  parties 
can  be  brought  face  to  face. 

I  can  differ  with  a  man  much  more  radically  when 
he  isn  't  in  the  room  than  I  can  when  he  is  in  the  room, 
because  then  the  awkward  thing  is  that  he  can  come 
back  at  me  and  answer  what  I  say.  It  is  always  dan- 
gerous for  a  man  to  have  the  floor  entirely  to  himself. 
And,  therefore,  we  must  insist  in  every  instance  that 


190  Democracy   Today 

the  parties  come  into  each  other's  presence  and  there 
discuss  the  issues  between  them,  and  not  separately  in 
places  which  have  no  communication  with  each  other. 

I  always  like  to  remind  myself  of  a  delightful  say- 
ing of  an  Englishman  of  a  past  generation,  Charles 
Lamb.  He  was  with  a  group  of  friends  and  he  spoke 
very  harshly  of  some  man  who  was  not  present.  I 
ought  to  say  that  Lamb  stuttered  a  little.  And  one 
of  his  friends  said,  "Why,  Charles,  I  didn't  know 
that  you  knew  so  and  so  ? " 

"  0, "  he  said, ' '  I  don 't.  I  can 't  hate  a  man  I  know. ' ' 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature,  of  very  pleas- 
ant human  nature,  in  that  saying.  It  is  hard  to  hate 
a  man  you  know.  I  must  admit,  parenthetically,  that 
there  are  some  politicians  whose  methods  I  do  not 
believe  in,  but  they  are  jolly  good  fellows,  and  if  they 
only  would  not  talk  the  wrong  kind  of  politics  with 
me  I  would  love  to  be  with  them.  And  so  it  is  all 
along  the  line  in  serious  matters  and  things  less 
serious. 

We  are  all  of  the  same  clay  and  spirit  and  we  can 
get  together  if  we  desire  to  get  together. 

Therefore,  my  counsel  to  you  is  this : 

Let  us  show  ourselves  Americans  by  showing  that 
we  do  not  want  to  go  off  in  separate  camps  or  groups 
by  ourselves,  but  that  we  want  to  cooperate  with  all 
other  classes  and  all  other  groups  in  a  common  enter- 
prise which  is  to  release  the  spirits  of  the  world  from 
bondage. 

I  would  be  willing  to  set  that  up  as  the  final  test  of 
an  American.    That  is  the  meaning  of  democracy. 


What  Democracy  Means  191 

I  have  been  very  much  distressed,  my  fellow  citi- 
zens, by  some  of  the  things  that  have  happened 
recently.  The  mob  spirit  is  displaying  itself  here 
and  there  in  this  country.^  I  have  sympathy  with 
what  some  men  are  saying,  but  I  have  no  sympjithy 
with  the  men  that  take  their  punishment  into  their 
own  hands ;  and  I  want  to  say  to  every  man  who  does 
join  such  a  mob  that  I  do  not  recognize  him  as  worthy 
of  the  free  institutions  of  the  United  States. 

There  are  some  organizations^  in  this  country  whose 
object  is  anarchy  and  the  destruction  of  law,  but  I 
would  not  meet  their  efforts  by  making  myself  a  part- 
ner in  destroying  the  law.  I  despise  and  hate  their 
purposes  as  much  as  any  man,  but  I  respect  the 
ancient  processes  of  justice  and  I  would  be  too  proud 
not  to  see  them  done  justice,  however  wrong  they  are. 
And  so  I  want  to  utter  my  earnest  protest  against  any 
manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  anywhere  or 
in  any  cause. 

Why,  gentlemen,  look  what  it  means.  We  claim  to 
be  the  greatest  democratic  people  in  the  world,  and 
democracy  means  first  of  all  that  we  can  govern  our- 
selves. If  our  men  have  not  self-control,  then  they  are 
not  capable  of  that  great  thing  which  we  call  demo- 
cratic government,  A  man  who  takes  the  law  into 
his  own  hands  is  not  the  right  man  to  cooperate  in 
any  form  of  orderly  development  of  law  and  institu- 
tions. And  some  of  the  processes  by  which  the  strug- 
gle between  capital  and  labor  is  carried  on  are 
processes  that  come  very  near  to  taking  the  law  into 
your  own  hands. 


192  Democracy    Today 

I  do  not  mean  for  a  moment  to  compare  them  with 
what  I  have  just  been  speaking  of,  but  I  want  you  to 
see  that  they  are  mere  gradations  of  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  unwillingness  to  cooperate,  and  the  fun- 
damental lesson  of  the  whole  situation  is  that  we  must 
not  only  take  common  counsel  but  that  we  must  yield 
to  and  obey  common  counsel.  Not  all  of  the  instru- 
mentalities for  this  are  at  hand.  I  am  hopeful  that  in 
the  very  near  future  new  instrumentalities  may  be 
organized  by  which  we  can  see  to  it  that  various 
things  that  are  now  going  on  shall  not  go  on. 

There  are  various  processes  of  the  dilution  of  labor 
and  the  unnecessary  substitution  of  labor  and  bidding 
in  distant  markets  and  unfairly  upsetting  the  whole 
competition  of  labor  which  ought  not  to  go  on — I  mean 
now  on  the  part  of  employers — and  we  must  interject 
into  this  some  instrumentality  of  cooperation  by 
which  the  fair  thing  will  be  done  all  around.  I  am 
hopeful  that  some  such  instrumentalities  may  be 
devised,  but  whether  they  are  or  not,  we  must  use 
those  that  we  have  and  upon  every  occasion  where  it 
is  necessary  to  have  such  an  instrumentality  origin- 
ated upon  that  occasion,  if  necessary. 

And  so,  my  fellow  citizens,  the  reason  that  I  came 
away  from  "Washington  is  that  I  sometimes  get  lonely 
down  there.  There  are  so  many  people  in  Washington 
who  know  things  that  are  not  so,  and  there  are  so  few 
people  in  Washington  who  know  anything  about  what 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  thinking,  I 
have  to  come  away  to  get  reminded  of  the  rest  of  the 
country;  I  have  to  come  away  and  talk  to  men  who 


What    Democracy    Means  193 

are  up  against  the  real  thing  and  say  to  them,  ' '  I  am 
with  you  if  you  are  with  me."  And  the  only  test  of 
being  with  me  is  not  to  think  about  me  personally  at 
all,  but  merely  to  think  of  me  as  the  expression  for 
the  time  being  of  the  power  and  dignity  and  hope  of 
the  United  States. 


SECOND  WAR  MESSAGE 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address    delivered    before    congress,    DECEMBER    4, 

1917.] 

Eight  months  have  elapsed  since  I  last  had  the 
honor  of  addressing  you.  They  have  been  months 
crowded  with  events  of  immense  and  grave  signifi- 
cance for  us.  I  shall  not  undertake  to  retail  or  even 
to  summarize  those  events.  The  practical  particulars 
of  the  part  we  have  played  in  them  will  be  laid  before 
you  in  the  reports  of  the  executive  departments.  I 
shall  discuss  only  our  present  outlook  upon  these  vast 
affairs,  our  present  duties,  and  the  immediate  means 
of  accomplishing  the  objects  we  shall  hold  always  in 
view. 

I  shall  not  go  back  to  debate  the  causes  of  the  war. 
The  intolerable  wrongs  done  and  planned  against  us 
by  the  sinister  masters  of  Germany  have  long  since 
become  too  grossly  obvious  and  odious  to  every  true 
American  to  need  to  be  rehearsed.  But  I  shall  ask 
you  to  consider  again  and  with  very  grave  scrutiny 
our  objectives  and  the  measures  by  which  we  mean 
to  attain  them ;  for  the  purpose  of  discussion  here  in 
this  place  is  action  and  our  action  must  move  straight 
toward  definite  ends.  Our  object  is,  of  course,  to  win 
the  war,  and  we  shall  not  slacken  or  suffer  ourselves 
to  be  diverted  until  it  is  won.    But  it  is  worth  while 

194 


Second  War  Message  195 

asking  and  answering  the  question,  When  shall  we 
consider  the  war  won? 

From  one  point  of  view  it  is  not  necessary  to 
broach  this  fundamental  matter.  I  do  not  doubt  that 
the  American  people  know  what  the  war  is  about 
and  what  sort  of  an  outcome  they  will  regard  as  a 
realization  of  their  purpose  in  it.  As  a  nation  we 
are  united  in  spirit  and  intention, 

I  pay  little  heed  to  those  who  tell  me  otherwise, 
I  hear  the  voices  of  dissent — who  does  not?  I  hear 
the  criticism  and  the  clamor  of  the  noisily  thought- 
less and  troublesome.  I  also  see  men  here  and  there 
fling  themselves  in  impotent  disloyalty  against  the 
calm,  indomitable  power  of  the.  nation,  I  hear  men 
debate  peace  who  understand  neither  its  nature  nor 
the  way  in  which  we  may  attain  it,  with  uplifted  eyes 
and  unbroken  spirits.  But  I  know  that  none  of  these 
speaks  for  the  nation.  They  do  not  touch  the  heart 
of  anything.  They  may  safely  be  left  to  strut  their 
uneasy  hour  and  be  forgotten. 

But  from  another  point  of  view  I  believe  that  it 
is  necessary  to  say  plainly  what  we  here  at  the  seat 
of  action  consider  the  war  to  be  for  and  what  part  we 
mean  to  play  in  the  settlement  of  its  searching  issues. 
We  are  the  spokesmen  of  the  American  people  and 
they  have  a  right  to  know  whether  their  purpose  is 
ours.  They  desire  peace  by  the  overcoming  of  evil, 
by  the  defeat  once  and  for  all  of  the  sinister  forces 
that  interrupt  peace  and  render  it  impossible,  and 
they  wish  to  know  how  closely  our  thought  runs  with 
theirs  and  what  action  we  propose.    They  are  impa- 


196  Democracy   Today 

tient  with  those  who  desire  peace  by  any  sort  of 
compromise — deeply  and  indignantly  impatient — but 
they  will  be  equally  impatient  with  us  if  we  do  not 
make  it  plain  to  them  what  our  objectives  are  and 
what  we  are  planning  for  in  seeking  to  make  conquest 
of  peace  by  arms. 

I  believe  that  I  speak  for  them  when  I  say  two 
things:  First,  that  this  intolerable  Thing  of  which 
the  masters  of  Germany  have  shown  us  the  ugly  face, 
this  menace  of  combined  intrigue  and  force,  which  we 
now  see  so  clearly  as  the  German  power,  a  Thing  with- 
out conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for  covenanted 
peace,  must  be  crushed,  and  if  it  be  not  utterly 
brought  to  an  end,  at^  least  shut  out  from  the  friendly 
intercourse  of  the  nations;  and,  second,  that  when 
this  Thing  and  its  power  are  indeed  defeated  and  th-e 
time  comes  that  we  can  discuss  peace — when  the  Ger- 
man people  have  spokesmen  whose  word  we  can 
believe,  and  when  those  spokesmen  are  ready  in  the 
name  of  their  people  to  accept  the  common  judgment 
of  the  nations  as  to  what  shall  henceforth  be  the 
bases  of  law  and  of  covenant  for  the  life  of  the  world 
— ^we  shall  be  willing  and  glad  to  pay  the  full  price 
for  peace  and  pay  it  ungrudgingly.  We  know  what 
that  price  will  be.  It  will  be  full,  impartial  justice 
— ^justice  done  at  every  point  and  to  every  nation  that 
the  final  settlement  must  affect,  our  enemies  as  well 
as  our  friends. 

You  catch,  with  me,  the  voices  of  humanity  that 
are  in  the  air.  They  grow  daily  more  audible,  more 
articulate,  more  persuasive,  and  they  come  from  the 


Second  War  Message  197 

hearts  of  men  every  where.  They  insist  that  the  war 
shall  not  end  in  vindictive  action  of  any  kind;  that 
no  nation  or  people  shall  be  robbed  or  punished 
because  the  irresponsible  rulers  of  a  single  country 
have  themselves  done  deep  and  abominable  wrong. 
It  is  this  thought  that  has  been  expressed  in  the 
formula,  ' '  No  annexations,  no  contributions,  no  puni- 
tive indemnities." 

Just  because  this  crude  formula  expresses  the 
instinctive  judgment  as  to  the  right  of  plain  men 
everywhere  it  has  been  made  diligent  use  of  by  the 
masters  of  German  intrigue  to  lead  the  people  of  Rus- 
sia astray,  and  the  people  of  every  other  country  their 
agents  could  reach,  in  order  that  a  premature  peace 
might  be  brought  about  before  autocracy  has  been 
taught  its  final  and  convincing  lesson  and  the  people 
of  the  world  put  in  control  of  their  own  destinies. 

But  the  fact  that  a  wrong  use  has  been  made  of 
a  just  idea  is  no  reason  why  a  right  use  should  not 
be  made  of  it.  It  ought  to  be  brought  under  the  pat- 
ronage of  its  real  friends.  Let  it  be  said  again  that 
autocracy  must  first  be  shown  the  utter  futility  of  its 
claims  to  power  or  leadership  in  the  modern  world. 
It  is  impossible  to  apply  any  standard  of  justice  so 
long  as  such  forces  are  unchecked  and  undefeated 
as  the  present  masters  of  Germany  command.  Not 
until  that  has  been  done  can  right  be  set  up  as  arbiter 
and  peacemaker  among  the  nations.  But  when  that 
has  been  done — as,  God  willing,  it  assuredly  will  be 
— we  shall  at  last  be  free  to  do  an  unprecedented 
thing,  and  this  is  the  time  to  avow  our  purpose  to 


198  Democracy   Today 

do  it.  We  shall  be  free  to  base  peace  on  generosity 
and  justice,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  selfish  claims  to 
advantage  even  on  the  part  of  the  victors. 

Let  there  be  no  misunderstanding.  Our  present 
and  immediate  task  is  to  win  the  war,  and  nothing 
shall  turn  iis  aside  from  it  until  it  is  accomplished. 
Every  power  and  resource  we  possess,  whether  of 
men,  of  money,  or  of  materials,  is  being  devoted  and 
will  continue  to  be  devoted,  to  that  purpose  until  it 
is  achieved.  Those  who  desire  to  bring  peace  about 
before  that  purpose  is  achieved,  I  counsel  to  carry 
their  advice  elsewhere.    We  will  not  entertain  it. 

We  shall  regard  the  war  as  won  only  when  the 
German  people  say  to  us,  through  properly  accredited 
representatives,  that  they  are  ready  to  agree  to  a 
settlement  based  upon  justice  and  the  reparation  of 
the  wrongs  their  rulers  have  done.  They  have  done 
a  wrong  to  Belgium  which  must  be  repaired.  They 
have  established  a  power  over  other  lands  and  peo- 
ples than  their  own — over  the  great  empire  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, over  hitherto  free  Balkan  states,  over 
Turkey,  and  within  Asia — which  must  be  relinquished. 

Germany's  success  by  skill,  by  industry,  by  knowl- 
edge, by  enterprise  we  did  not  grudge  or  oppose,  but 
admired  rather.  She  had  built  up  for  herself  a  real 
empire  of  trade  and  influence,  secured  by  the  peace 
of  the  world.  We  were  content  to  abide  the  rivalries 
of  manufacture,  science,  and  commerce  that  were  in- 
volved for  us  in  her  success  and  stand  or  fall  as  we 
had  or  did  not  have  the  brains  and  the  initiative  to 
surpass  her. 


r 


Second  War  Message  199 

But  at  the  moment  when  she  had  conspicuously  won 
her  triumphs  of  peace  she  threw  them  away  to  establish 
in  their  stead  what  the  world  will  no  longer  permit 
to  be  established,  military  and  political  domination 
by  arms,  by  which  to  oust  where  she  could  not  excel 
the  rivals  she  most  feared  and  hated. 

The  peace  we  make  must  remedy  that  wrong.  It 
must  deliver  the  once  fair  lands  and  happy  peoples 
of  Belgium  and  northern  France  from  the  Prussian 
conquest  and  the  Prussian  menace,  but  it  must  also 
deliver  the  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  the  peoples 
of  the  Balkans,  and  the  peoples  of  Turkey,  alike  in 
Europe  and  in  Asia,  from  the  impudent  and  alien 
domination  of  the  Prussian  military  and  commercial 
autocracy. 

We  owe  it,  however,  to  ourselves  to  say  that  we  do 
not  wish  in  any  way  to  impair  or  to  rearrange  the 
Austro-Hungarian  empire.  It  is  no  affair  of  ours 
what  they  do  with  their  own  life,  either  industrially 
or  politically.  We  do  not  purpose  nor  desire  to  dic- 
tate to  them  in  any  way.  We  only  desire  to  see  that 
their  affairs  are  left  in  their  own  hands,  in  all  mat- 
ters, great  or  small.  We  shall  hope  to  secure  for  the 
peoples  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  for  the  people 
of  the  Turkish  empire  the  right  and  opportunity  to 
make  their  own  lives  safe,  their  own  fortunes  secure 
against  oppression  or  injustice  and  from  the  dictation 
of  foreign  courts  or  parties,  and  our  attitude  and 
purpose  with  regard  to  Germany  herself  are  of  a  like 
kind. 

We  intend  no  wrong  against  the  German  empire. 


200  Democracy  Today 

no  interference  with  her  internal  affairs.  We  should 
deem  either  the  one  or  the  other  absolutely  unjusti- 
fiable, absolutely  contrary  to  the  principles  we  have 
professed  to  live  by  and  to  hold  most  sacred  through- 
out our  life  as  a  nation. 

The  people  of  Germany  are  being  told  by  the  men 
whom  they  now  permit  to  deceive  them  and  to  act  as 
their  masters  that  they  are  fighting  for  the  very  life 
and  existence  of  their  empire,  a  war  of  desperate  self- 
defense  against  deliberate  aggression.  Nothing  could 
be  more  grossly  or  wantonly  false,  and  we  must  seek 
by  the  utmost  openness  and  candor  as  to  our  real  aims 
to  convince  them  of  its  falseness.  We  are,  in  fact, 
fighting  for  their  emancipation  from  fear,  along  with 
our  own,  from  the  fear  as  well  as  from  the  fact  of 
unjust  attack  by  neighbors  or  rivals  or  schemers  after 
world  empire.  No  one  is  threatening  the  existence 
or  the  independence  or  the  peaceful  enterprise  of  the 
German  empire. 

The  worst  that  can  happen  to  the  detriment  of  the 
German  people  is  this,  that  if  they  should  still,  after 
the  war  is  over,  continue  to  be  obliged  to  live  under 
ambitious  and  intriguing  masters  interested  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  world,  men  or  classes  of  men  whom 
the  other  peoples  of  the  world  could  not  trust,  it 
might  be  impossible  to  admit  them  to  the  partnership 
of  nations  which  must  henceforth  guarantee  the 
world's  peace.  That  partnership  must  be  a  partner- 
ship of  peoples,  not  a  mere  partnership  of  governments. 

It  might  be  impossible,  also,  in  such  untoward 
circumstances,  to  admit  Germany  to  the  free  economic 


Second  War  Message  201 

intercourse  which  must  inevitably  spring  out  of  the 
other  partnerships  of  a  real  peace.  But  there  would 
be  no  aggression  in  that;  and  such  a  situation,  inevi- 
table because  of  distrust,  would  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  sooner  or  later  cure  itself,  by  processes  which 
would  assuredly  set  in. 

The  wrongs,  the  very  deep  wrongs,  committed  in 
this  war  will  have  to  be  righted.  That  of  course. 
But  they  cannot  and  must  not  be  righted  by  the  com- 
misson  of  similar  wrongs  against  Germany  and  her 
allies.  The  world  will  not  permit  the  commission  of 
similar  wrongs  as  a  means  of  reparation  and  settle- 
ment. Statesmen  must  by  this  time  have  learned  that 
the  opinion  of  the  world  is  everywhere  wide-awake 
and  fully  comprehends  the  issues  involved.  No  repre- 
sentative of  any  self-governed  nation  will  dare  dis- 
regard it  by  attempting  any  such  covenants  of  self- 
ishness and  compromise  as  were  entered  into  at  the 
congress  of  Vienna. 

The  thought  of  the  plain  people  here  and  every- 
where throughout  the  world,  the  people  who  enjoy 
no  privilege  and  have  very  simple  and  unsophisticated 
standards  -of  right  and  wrong,  is  the  air  all  govern- 
ments must  henceforth  breathe  if  they  would  live. 
It  is  in  the  full  disclosing  light  of  that  thought  that 
all  policies  must  be  conceived  and  executed  in  this 
midday  hour  of  the  world 's  life, 

German  rulers  have  oeen  able  to  upset  the  peace  of 
the  world  only  because  the  German  people  were  not 
suffered  under  their  tutelage,  to  share  the  comrade- 
ship of  the  other  peoples  of  the  world  either  in  thought 


202  Democracy  Today 

or  in  purpose.  They  were  allowed  to  have  no  opinion 
of  their  own  which  might  be  set  up  as  a  rule  of  conduct 
for  those  who  exercised  authority  over  them.  But  the 
congress  that  concludes  this  war  will  feel  the  full 
strength  of  the  tides  that  run  now  in  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  free  men  everywhere.  Its  conclusions 
will  run  with  those  tides. 

All  these  things  have  been  true  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  this  stupendous  war;  and  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  if  they  had  been  made  plain  at  the  very 
outset  the  sympathy  and  enthusiasm  of  the  Russian 
people  might  have  been  once  for  all  enlisted  on  the 
side  of  the  allies,  suspicion  and  distrust  swept  away, 
and  a  real  and  lasting  union  of  purpose  effected.  Had 
they  believed  these  things  at  the  very  moment  of  their 
revolution  and  had  they  been  confirmed  in  that  belief 
since,  the  sad  reverses  which  have  recently  marked 
the  progress  of  their  affairs  toward  an  ordered  and 
stable  govermnent  of  free  men  might  have  been 
avoided. 

The  Russian  people  have  been  poisoned  by  the  very 
same  falsehoods  that  have  kept  the  German  people 
in  the  dark,  and  the  poison  has  been  administered  by 
the  very  same  hands.  The  only  possible  antidote  is 
the  truth.  It  cannot  be  uttered  too  plainly  or  too 
often. 

From  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  has  seemed 
to  be  my  duty  to  speak  these  declarations  of  purpose, 
to  add  these  specific  interpretations  to  what  I  took 
the  liberty  of  saying  to  the  senate  in  January.  Our 
entrance  into  the  war  has  not  altered  our  attitude 


Second  War  Message  203 

toward  the  settlement  that  must  come  when  it  is  over. 
When  I  said  in  January  that  the  nations  of  the  world 
were  entitled  not  only  to  free  pathways  upon  the  sea, 
but  also  to  assured  and  unmolested  access  to  those 
pathways  I  was  thinking,  and  I  am  thinking  now, 
not  of  the  smaller  and  weaker  nations  alone,  which 
need  our  countenance  and  support,  but  also  of  the  great 
and  powerful  nations,  and  of  our  present  enemies  as 
well  as  our  present  associates  in  the  war.  I  was  think- 
ing, and  am  thinking  now,  of  Austria  herself,  among 
the  rest,  as  well  as  of  Serbia  and  of  Poland.  Justice 
and  equality  of  rights  can  be  had  only  at  a  great  price. 
We  are  seeking  permanent,  not  temporary,  foun- 
dations for  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  must  seek  them 
candidly  and  fearlessly.  As  always,  the  right  will 
prove  to  be  the  expedient. 

What  shall  we  do,  then,  to  push  this  great  war  of 
freedom  and  justice  to  its  righteous  conclusion?  We 
must  clear  away  with  a  thorough  hand  all  impedi- 
ments to  success,  and  we  must  make  every  adjustment 
of  law  that  will  facilitate  the  full  and  free  use  of  our 
whole  capacity  and  force  as  a  fighting  unit. 

One  very  embarrassing  obstacle  that  stands  in  our 
way  is  that  we  are  at  war  with  Germany,  but  not  with 
her  allies.  I  therefore  very  earnestly  recommend  that 
the  congress  immediately  declare  the  United  States 
in  a  state  of  war  with  Austria-Hungary.  Does  it 
seem  strange  to  you  that  this  should  be  the  conclusion 
of  the  argument  I  have  just  addressed  to  you?  It  is 
not.  It  is  in  fact  the  inevitable  logic  of  what  I  have 
said.    Austria-Hungary  is  for  the  time  being  not  her 


204  Democracy  Today 

own  mistresB,  but  simply  the  vassal  of  the  German 
government.  We  must  face  the  facts  as  they  are  and 
act  upon,  them  without  sentiment  in  this  stem  busi- 
ness. 

The  government  of  Austria-Hungary  is  not  acting 
upon  its  own  initiative  or  in  response  to  the  wishes  and 
feelings  of  its  own  peoples,  but  as  the  instrument  of 
another  nation.  We  must  meet  its  force  with  our  own 
and  regard  the  central  powers  as  but  one.  The  war 
can  be  successfully  conducted  in  no  other  way.  The 
same  logic  would  lead  also  to  a  declaration  of  war 
against  Turkey  and  Bulgaria.  They  also  are  the  tools 
of  Germany.  But  they  are  mere  tools  and  do  not  yet 
stand  in  the  direct  path  of  our  necessary  action.  We 
shall  go  wherever  the  necessities  of  this  war  carry  us, 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  should  go  only  where 
immediate  and  practical  considerations  lead  us  and  not 
heed  any  others. 

The  financial  and  military  measures  which  must  be 
adopted  will  suggest  themselves  as  the  war  and  its 
undertakings  develop,  but  I  will  take  the  liberty  of 
proposing  to  you  certain  other  acts  of  legislation  which 
seem  to  me  to  be  needed  for  the  support  of  the  war 
and  for  the  release  of  our  whole  force  and  energy. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  extend  in  certain  particulars 
the  legislation  of  the  last  session  with  regard  to  alien 
enemies;  and  also  necessary,  I  believe,  to  create  a 
very  definite  and  particular  control  over  the  entrance 
and  departure  of  all  persons  into  and  from  the  United 
States. 

Legislation  should  be  enacted  defining  as  a  criminal 


Second  War  Message  205 

oflPense  every  willful  violation  of  the  Presidential 
proclamations  relating  to  enemy  aliens  promulgated 
under  Section  4,067  of  the  Revised  Statutes  and  pro- 
viding appropriate  punishments;  and  women  as  well 
as  men  should  be  included  under  the  terms  of  the  acts 
placing  restraints  iipon  alien  enemies.  It  is  likely 
that  as  time  goes  on  many  alien  enemies  will  be  willing 
to  be  fed  and  housed  at  the  expense  of  the  government 
in  the  detention  camps,  and  it  would  be  the  purpose  of 
the  legislation  I  have  suggested  to  confine  offenders 
among  them  in  penitentiaries  and  other  similar  institu- 
tions where  they  could  be  made  to  work  as  other 
criminals  do. 

Recent  experience  has  convinced  me  that  the  Con- 
gress must  go  further  in  authorizing  the  Government 
to  set  limits  to  prices.  The  law  of  supply  and  demand, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  been  replaced  by  the  law  of 
unrestrained  selfishness.  While  we  have  eliminated 
profiteering  in  several  branches  of  industry  it  still 
runs  impudently  rampant  in  others.  The  farmers, 
for  example,  complain  with  a  great  deal  of  justice 
that,  while  the  regulation  of  food  prices  restricts  their 
incomes,  no  restraints  are  placed  upon  the  prices  of 
most  of  the  things  they  must  themselves  purchase,  and 
similar  iniquities  obtain  on  all  sides. 

It  is  imperatively  necessary  that  the  consideration 
of  the  full  use  of  the  water  power  of  the  country  and 
also  the  consideration  of  the  systematic  and  yet  eco- 
nomical development  of  such  of  the  natural  resources 
of  the  country  as  are  still  under  the  control  of  the 
Federal  Government  should  be  resumed  and  affirma- 


206  Democracy  Today 

lively  and  constructively  dealt  with  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.  The  pressing  need  of  such  legis- 
lation is  daily  becoming  more  obvious. 

The  Legislation  proposed  at  the  last  session  with 
regard  to  regulated  combinations  among  our  export- 
ers, in  order  to  provide  for  our  foreign  trade  a  more 
effective  organization  and  method  of  cooperation, 
ought  by  all  means  to  be  completed  at  this  session. 

And  I  beg  that  the  members  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives will  permit  me  to  express  the  opinion  that 
it  will  be  impossible  to  deal  in  any  way  but  a  very 
wasteful  and  extravagant  fashion  with  the  enormous 
appropriations  of  the  public  moneys  which  must 
continue  to  be  made,  if  the  war  is  to  be  properly 
sustained,  unless  the  House  will  consent  to  return  to 
its  former  practice  of  initiating  and  preparing  all 
appropriation  bills  through  a  single  committee,  in 
order  that  responsibility  may  be  centered,  expendi- 
tures standardized  and  made  uniform,  and  waste  and 
duplication  as  much  as  possible  avoided. 

Additional  legislation  may  also  become  necessary 
before  the  present  Congress  adjourns  in  order  to  effect 
the  most  efficient  coordination  and  operation  of  the 
railway  and  other  transportation  systems  of  the  coun- 
try; but  to  that  I  shall,  if  circumstances  should  de- 
mand, call  the  attention  of  Congress  upon  another 
occasion. 

If  I  have  overlooked  anything  that  ought  to  be 
done  for  the  more  effective  conduct  of  the  war,  your 
own  counsels  will  supply  the  omission.  What  I  am 
perfectly  c}ear  about  is  that  in  the  present  session  of 


Second  War  Message  207 

the  Congress  our  whole  attention  and  energy  should 
be  concentrated  on  the  vigorous  and  rapid  and  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  great  task  of  winning  the 
war. 

We  can  do  this  with  all  the  greater  zeal  and  en- 
thusiasm because  we  know  that  for  us  this  is  a  war 
of  high  principle,  debased  by  no  selfish  ambition  of 
conquest  or  spoliation ;  because  we  know,  and  all  the 
world  knows,  that  we  have  been  forced  into  it  to  save 
the  very  institutions  we  live  under  from  corruption 
and  destruction.  The  purposes  of  the  central  powers 
strike  straight  at  the  very  heart  of  everything  we 
believe  in ;  their  methods  of  warfare  outrage  every 
principle  of  humanity  and  of  knightly  honor;  their 
intrigue  has  corrupted  the  very  thought  and  spirit  of 
many  of  our  people;  their  sinister  and  secret 
diplomacy  has  sought  to  take  our  very  territory  away 
from  us  and  disrupt  the  union  of  the  States.  Our 
safety  would  be  at  an  end,  our  honor  forever  sullied 
and  brought  into  contempt  were  we  to  permit  their 
triumph.  They  are  striking  at  the  very  existence  of 
democracy  and  liberty. 

It  is  because  it  is  for  us  a  war  of  high,  disinterested 
purpose,  in  which  all  the  free  peoples  of  the  world  are 
banded  together  for  the  vindication  of  right,  a  war 
for  the  preservation  of  our  nation  and  of  all  that  it 
has  held  dear  of  principle  and -of  purpose,  that  we 
feel  ourselves  doubly  constrained  to  propose  for  its 
outcome  only  that  which  is  righteous  and  of  irreproach- 
able intention,  for  our  foes  as  well  as  for  our  friends. 

The  cause  being  just  and  holy,  the  settlement  must. 


208  Democracy  Today 

be  of  like  motive  and  quality.  For  this  we  can  fight, 
but  for  nothing  less  noble  or  less  worthy  of  our  tradi- 
tions. For  this  cause  we  entered  the  war  and  for 
this  cause  will  we  battle  until  the  last  gun  is  fired. 

I  have  spoken  plainly  because  this  seems  to  me  the 
time  when  it  is  most  necessary  to  speak  plainly,  in 
order  that  all  the  world  may  know  that  even  in  the 
heat  and  ardor  of  the  struggle  and  when  our  whole 
thought  is  of  carrying  the  war  through  to  its  end  we 
have  not  forgotten  any  ideal  or  principle  for  which 
the  name  of  America  has  been  held  in  honor  among 
the  nations  and  for  which  it  has  been  our  glory  to 
contend  in  the  great  generations  that  went  before  us. 

A  supreme  moment  of  history  has  come.  The  eyes 
of  the  people  have  been  opened  and  they  see.  The 
hand  of  God  is  laid  upon  the  nations.  He  will  show 
them  favor,  I  devoutly  believe,  only  if  they  rise  to 
the  clear  heights  of  His  own  justice  and  mercy. 


PROGRAM  OF  THE  WORLD'S  PEACE 
WooDROw  Wilson 

[address     delivered     before     congress     JANUARY     8, 

1918.] 

Once  more,  as  repeatedly  before,  the  spokesmen  of 
the  central  empires  have  indicated  their  desire  to  dis- 
cuss the  objects  of  the  war  and  the  possible  bases  of  a 
general  peace.  Parleys  have  been  in  progress  at  Brest- 
Litovsk  between  Russian  representatives  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  central  powers  to  which  the  attention 
of  all  the  belligerents  has  been  invited  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  whether  it  may  be  possible  to  extend 
these  parleys  into  a  general  conference  with  regard  to 
terms  of  peace  and  settlement. 

The  Russian  representatives  presented  not  only  a 
perfectly  definite  statement  of  the  principles  upon 
which  they  would  be  willing  to  conclude  peace,  but 
also  an  equally  definite  program  of  the  concrete  appli- 
cation of  those  principles. 

The  representatives  of  the  central  powers,  on  their 
part,  presented  an  outline  of  settlement  which,  if 
much  less  definite,  seemed  susceptible  of  liberal  inter- 
pretation until  their  specific  program  of  practical  terms 
was  added. 

That  program  proposed  no  concessions  at  all,  either 
to  sovereignty  of  Russia  or  to  the  preferences  of  the 
population  with  whose  fortunes  it  dealt,  but  meant, 
in  a  word,  that  the  central  empires  were  to  keep  every 

209 


210  Democracy  Today 

foot  of  territory  their  armed  forces  had  occupied — 
every  province,  every  city,  every  point  of  vantage — as 
a  permanent  addition  to  their  territories  and  their 
power. 

It  is  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  settlement  which  they  at  first  suggested  origi- 
nated with  the  more  liberal  statesmen  of  Germany  and 
Austria,  the  men  who  have  begun  to  feel  the  force  of 
their  own  people 's  thought  and  purpose,  while  the  con- 
crete terms  of  actual  settlement  came  from  the  military 
leaders,  who  have  no  thought  but  to  keep  what  they 
have  got.  The  negotiations  have  been  broken  off.  The 
Russian  representatives  were  sincere  and  in  earnest. 
They  cannot  entertain  such  proposals  of  conquest  and 
domination. 

The  whole  incident  is  full  of  significance.  It  is  also 
full  of  perplexity.  With  whom  are  the  Russian  repre- 
sentatives dealing  ?  For  whom  are  the  representatives 
of  the  central  empires  speaking?  Are  they  speaking 
for  the  majorities  of  their  respective  parliaments  or 
for  the  minority  parties — that  military  and  imperial- 
istic minority  which  has  so  far. dominated  their  whole 
policy  and  controlled  the  affairs  of  Turkey  and  the 
Balkan  states,  which  have  felt  obliged  to  become  their 
associates  in  this  war  ? 

The  Russian  representatives  have  insisted,  very 
justly,  very  wisely,  and  in  the  true  spirit  of  democ- 
racy, that  the  conferences  they  have  been  holding  with 
the  Teutonic  and  Turkish  statesmen  should  be  held 
within  open,  not  closed,  doors,  and  all  the  world  has 
been  audience,  as  was  desired. 


Program  of  the  World's  Peace  211 

To  whom  have  we  been  listening,  then?  To  those 
who  speak  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  resolutions 
of  the  German  reichstag  of  the  9th  of  July  last,  the 
spirit  and  intention  of  the  liberal  leaders  and  parties 
of  Germany,  or  to  those  who  resist  and  defy  that  spirit 
and  intention  and  insist  upon  conquest  and  subjuga- 
tion ?  Or  are  we  listening  in  fact  to  both,  unreconciled 
and  in  open  and  hopeless  contradiction?  These  are 
very  serious  and  pregnant  questions.  Upon  the  answer 
to  them  depends  the  peace  of  the  world. 

But  whatever  the  results  of  the  parleys  at  Brest- 
Litovsk,  whatever  the  confusions  of  counsel  and  of 
purpose  in  the  utterances  of  the  spokesmen  of  the  cen- 
tral empires,  they  have  again  attempted  to  acquaint 
the  world  with  their  objects  in  the  war  and  have  again 
challenged  their  adversaries  to  say  what  their  objects 
are  and  what  sort  of  settlement  they  would  deem  just 
and  satisfactory. 

There  is  no  good  reason  why  that  challenge  should 
not  be  responded  to,  and  responded  to  with  the  utmost 
candor,  "We  did  not  wait  for  it.  Not  once,  but  again 
and  again,  we  have  laid  our  whole  thought  and  purpose 
before  the  world,  not  in  general  terms  only,  but  each 
time  with  sufficient  definition  to  make  it  clear  what  sort 
of  definitive  terms  of  settlement  must  necessarily 
spring  out  of  them. 

Within  the  last  week  Mr.  Lloyd  George  has  spoken 
with  admirable  candor  and  in  admirable  spirit  for  the 
people  and  government  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no 
confusion  of  counsel  among  the  adversaries  of  the  cen- 
tral powers,  no  uncertainty  of  principle,  no  vagueness 
of  detail. 


212  Democracy  Today 

The  only  secrecy  of  counsel,  the  only  lack  of  fear- 
less frankness,  the  only  failure  to  make  definite  state- 
ment of  the  objects  of  the  war  lies  with  Germany  and 
her  allies.  The  issues  of  life  and  death  hang  upon 
these  definitions.  No  statesman  who  has  the  least  con- 
ception of  his  responsibility  ought  for  a  moment  to 
permit  himself  to  continue  this  tragical  and  appalling 
outpouring  of  blood  and  treasure  unless  he  is  sure 
beyond  a  peradventure  that  the  objects  of  the  vital 
sacrifice  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  very  life  of  society 
and  that  the  people  for  whom  he  speaks  think  them 
right  and  imperative  as  he  does. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  voice  calling  for  these  defini- 
tions of  principle  and  of  purpose  which  is,  it  seems 
to  me,  more  thrilling  and  more  compelling  than  any 
of  the  many  moving  voices  with  which  the  troubled 
air  of  the  world  is  filled.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  Russian 
people.  They  are  prostrate  and  all  but  helpless,  it 
would  seem,  before  the  grim  power  of  Germany,  which 
has  hitherto  known  no  relenting  and  no  pity.  Their 
power  apparently  is  shattered,  and  yet  their  soul  is 
not  subservient.  They  will  not  yield  either  in  prin- 
ciple or  in  action.  The  conception  of  what  is  right,  of 
what  is  humane  and  honorable  for  them  to  accept,  has 
been  stated  with  a  frankness,  a  largeness  of  view,  a 
generosity  of  spirit,  and  a  universal  human  sympathy 
which  must  challenge  the  admiration  of  every  friend 
of  mankind ;  and  they  have  refused  to  compound  their 
ideals  or  desert  others  that  they  themselves  may  be  safe. 

They  call  to  us  to  say  what  it  is  that  we  desire,  in 
what,  if  in  anything,  our  purpose  and  our  spirit  differ 


Program  of  the  World 's  Peace  213 

from  theirs ;  and  I  believe  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  wish  me  to  respond  with  utter  simplicity 
and  frankness. 

Whether  their  present  leaders  believe  it  or  not,  it 
is  our  heartfelt  desire  and  hope  that  some  way  may 
be  opened  whereby  we  may  be  privileged  to  assist  the 
people  of  Russia  to  attain  their  utmost  hope  of  liberty 
and  ordered  peace. 

It  will  be  our  wish  and  purpose  that  the  processes 
of  peace,  when  they  are  begun,  shall  be  absolutely  open, 
and  that  they  shall  involve  and  permit  henceforth  no 
secret  understandings  of  any  kind.  The  day  of  con- 
quest and  aggrandizement  is  gone  by;  so  is  also  the 
day  of  secret  covenants  entered  into  in  the  interest  of 
particular  governments,  and  likely  at  some  unlooked 
for  moment  to  upset  the  peace  of  the  world. 

It  is  this  happy  fact,  now  clear  to  the  view  of  every 
public  man  whose  thoughts  do  not  still  linger  in  an 
age  that  is  dead  and  gone,  which  makes  it  possible  for 
every  nation  whose  purposes  are  consistent  with  jus- 
tice and  the  peace  of  the  world  to  avow  now  or  at  any 
other  time  the  objects  it  has  in  view. 

We  entered  this  war  because  violations  of  right  had 
occurred  which  touched  us  to  the  quick  and  made  the 
life  of  our  own  people  impossible  unless  they  were 
corrected  and  the  world  secured  once  for  all  against 
their  recurrence.  What  we  demand  in  this  war,  there- 
fore, is  nothing  peculiar  to  ourselves. 

It  is  that  the  world  be  made  fit  and  safe  to  live  in ; 
and  particularly  that  it  be  made  safe  for  every  peace- 
loving  nation  which,  like  our  own,  wishes  to  live  its 


214  Democracy  Today 

own  life,  determine  its  own  institutions,  be  assured  of 
justice  and  fair  dealing  by  the  other  peoples  of  the 
world  as  against  force  and  selfish  aggression. 

All  the  peoples  of  the  world  are  in  effect  partners 
in  this  interest,  and  for  our  own  part  we  see  very 
clearly  that  unless  justice  be  done  to  others  it  will  not 
be  done  to  us. 

The  program  of  the  world 's  peace,  therefore,  is  our 
program,  and  that  program,  the  only  possible  pro- 
gram, as  we  see  it,  is  this : 

I.  Open  covenants  of  peace,  openly  arrived  at,  after 
which  there  shall  be  no  private  international  under- 
standings of  any  kind,  but  diplomacy  shall  proceed 
always  frankly  and  in  the  public  view. 

II.  Absolute  freedom  of  navigation  upon  the  seas, 
outside  territorial  waters,  alike  in  peace  and  in  war, 
except  as  the  seas  may  be  closed  in  whole  or  in  part 
by  international  action  for  the  enforcement  of  inter- 
national covenants. 

III.  The  removal,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all  economic 
barriers  and  the  establishment  of  an  equality  of  trade 
conditions  among  all  the  nations  consenting  to  the 
peace  and  associating  themselves  for  its  maintenance. 

IV.  Adequate  guaranties  given  and  taken  that  na- 
tional armaments  will  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point 
consistent  with  domestic  safety. 

V.  A  free,  open-minded,  and  absolutely  impartial 
adjustment  of  all  colonial  claims,  based  upon  a  strict 
observance  of  the  principle  that  in  determining  all 
such  questions  of  sovereignty  the  interest  of  the  popu- 
lations concerned  must  have  equal  weight  with  the 


Program  of  the  World's  Peace  215 

equitable  claims  of  the  government  whose  title  is  to  be 
determined. 

VI.  The  evacuation  of  all  Russian  territory  and 
such  a  settlement  of  all  questions  affecting  Russia  as 
will  secure  the  best  and  freest  cooperation  of  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  in  obtaining  for  her  an  unham- 
pered and  unembarrassed  opportunity  for  the  inde- 
pendent determination  of  her  own  political  develop- 
ment and  national  policy  and  assure  her  of  a  sincere 
welcome  into  the  society  of  free  nations  under  insti- 
tutions of  her  own  choosing;  and,  more  than  a  wel- 
come, assistance  also  of  every  kind  that  she  may  nged 
and  may  herself  desire.  The  treatment  accorded 
Russia  by  her  sister  nations  in  the  months  to  come 
will  be  the  acid  test  of  their  good  will,  of  their  com- 
prehension of  her  needs  as  distinguished  from  their 
own  interests,  and  of  their  intelligent  and  unselfish 
sympathy. 

VII.  Belgium,  the  whole  world  will  agree,  must  be 
evacuated  and  restored  without  any  attempt  to  limit 
the  sovereignty  which  she  enjoys  in  common  with  all 
other  free  nations.  No  other  single  act  will  serve  as 
this  will  serve  to  restore  confidence  among  the  nations 
in  the  laws  which  they  have  themselves  set  and  deter- 
mined for  the  government  of  their  relations  with  one 
another.  Without  this  healing  act  the  whole  structure 
and  validity  of  international  law  is  forever  impaired. 

VIII.  All  French  territory  should  be  freed  and  the 
invaded  portions  restored  and  the  wrong  done  to 
France  by  Prussia  iii  1871  in  the  matter  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  which  has  unsettled  the  peace  of  the  world 


216  Democracy  Today 

for  nearly  fifty  years,  slioukl  be  righted,  in  order  that 
peace  may  once  more  be  made  secure  in  the  interest 
of  all. 

IX.  A  readjustment  of  the  frontiers  of  Italy  should 
be  effected  along  clearly  recognizable  lines  of  nation- 
ality. 

X.  The  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  whose  place 
among  the  nations  we  wish  to  see  safeguarded  and 
assured,  should  be  accorded  the  freest  opportunity  of 
autonomous  development. 

XI.  Roumania,  Serbia,  and  Montenegro  should  be 
evacuated;  occupied  territories  restored;  Serbia  ac- 
corded free  and  secure  access  to  the  sea ;  and  the  rela- 
tions of  the  several  Balkan  states  to  one  another  deter- 
mined by  friendly  counsel  along  historically  estab- 
lished lines  of  allegiance  and  nationality;  and  inter- 
national guaranties  of  the  political  and  economic 
independence  and  territorial  integrity  of  the  several 
Balkan  states  should  be  entered  into. 

XII.  The  Turkish  portions  of  the  present  Ottoman 
Empire  should  be  assured  a  secure  sovereignty,  but 
the  other  nationalities  which  are  now  under  Turkish 
rule  should  be  assured  an  undoubted  security  of 
life  and  an  absolutely  unmolested  opportunity  of 
autonomous  development,  and  the  Dardanelles  should 
be  permanently  opened  as  a  free  passage  to  the  ships 
and  commerce  of  all  nations  under  international 
guaranties. 

XIII.  An  independent  Polish  state  should  be 
erected  which  should  include  the  territories  inhab- 
ited by  indisputably  Polish  populations,  which  should 


Program  of  the  World's  Peace  217 

be  assured  a  free  and  secure  access  to  the  sea,  and 
whose  political  and  economic  independence  and  terri- 
torial integrity  should  be  guaranteed  by  international 
covenant. 

XIV.  A   general   association   of  nations   must   be. 
formed  under  specific  covenants  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  mutual  guaranties  of  political  independence 
and  territorial  integrity  to  great  and  small  states  alike. 

In  regard  to  these  essential  rectifications  of. wrong 
and  assertions  of  right  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  inti- 
mate partners  of  all  the  governments  and  peoples 
associated  together  against  the  imperialists.  We  can 
not  be  separated  in  interest  or  divided  in  purpose. 
We  stand  together  until  the  end. 

For  such  arrangements  and  covenants  we  are  willing 
to  fight  and  to  continue  to  fight  until  they  are  achieved ; 
but  only  because  we  wish  the  right  to  prevail  and 
desire  a  just  and  stable  peace  such  as  can  be  secured 
only  by  removing  the  chief  provocations  to  war,  which 
this  program  does  remove. 

We  have  no  jealousy  of  German  greatness  and  there 
is  nothing  in  this  program  that  impairs  it.  We  grudge 
her  no  achievement  or  distinction  of  learning  or  of 
pacific  enterprise  such  as  have  made  her  record  very 
bright  and  very  enviable.  We  do  not  wish  to  injure 
her  or  to  block  in  any  way  her  legitimate  influence  or 
power.  We  do  not  wish  to  fight  her  either  with  arms 
or  with  hostile  arrangements  of  trade,  if  she  is  willing 
to  associate  herself  with  us  and  the  other  peace-loving 
nations  of  the  world  in  covenants  of  justice  and  law 
and  fair  dealing.   We  wish  her  only  to  accept  a  place 


218  Democracy  Today 

of  equality  among  the  peoples  of  the  world — the  new- 
world  in  which  we  now  live — instead  of  a  place  of 
mastery. 

Neither  do  we  presume  to  suggest  to  her  any  altera- 
tion or  modification  of  her  institutions.  But  it  is 
necessary,  we  must  frankly  say,  and  necessary  as  a 
preliminary  to  any  intelligent  dealings  with  her  on  our 
part,  that  we  should  know  whom  her  spokesmen  speak 
for  when  they  speak  to  us,  whether  for  the  reichstag 
majority  or  for  the  military  party  and  the  men  whose 
creed  is  imperial  domination. - 

We  have  spoken  now,  surely,  in  terms  too  concrete 
to  admit  of  any  further  doubt  or  question. 

An  evident  principle  runs  through  the  whole  pro- 
gram I  have  outlined.  It  is  the  principle  of  justice  to 
all  peoples  and  nationalities,  and  their  right  to  live 
on  equal  terms  of  liberty  and  safety  with  one  another, 
whether  they  be  strong  or  weak.  Unless  this  principle 
be  made  its  foundation  no  part  of  the  structure  of 
international  justice  can  stand.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  could  act  upon  no  other  principle,  and 
to  the  vindication  of  this  principle  they  are  ready  to 
devote  their  lives,  their  honor,  and  everything  that 
they  possess.  The  moral  climax  of  this,  the  culminating 
and  final  war  for  human  liberty,  has  come,  and  they 
are  ready  to  put  their  strength,  their  own  highest 
purpose,  their  own  integrity,  and  devotion  to  the  test. 


APPENDIX 


THE    MEANING   OF   AMERICA'S    ENTRANCE 
INTO  THE  WAR 

David  Lloyd  George 

[address  delivered  at  the  AMERICAN  CLUB  IN  LONDON, 
APRIL   12,   1917.] 

I  am  in  the  happy  position  of  being,  I  think,  the  first 
British  Minister  of  the  Crown  who,  speaking  on  behalf  of 
the  people  of  this  country,  can  salute  the  American  Nation 
as  comrades  in  arms.  I  am  glad;  I  am  proud.  I  am  glad 
not  merely  because  of  the  stupendous  resources  which  this 
great  nation  will  bring  to  the  succor  of  the  alliance,  but  I 
rejoice  as  a  democrat  that  the  advent  of  the  United  States 
into  this  war  gives  the  final  stamp  and  seal  to  the  character 
of  the  conflict  as  a  struggle  against  military  autocracy 
throughout   the  world. 

That  was  the  note  that  ran  through  the  great  deliverance 
of  President  Wilson.*  It  was  echoed,  Sir,  in  your  resounding 
words  today.  The  United  States  of  America  have  the  noble 
tradition,  never  broken,  of  having  never  engaged  in  war 
except  for  liberty.  And  this  is  the  greatest  struggle  for 
liberty  that  they  have  ever  embarked  upon.  I  am  not  at  all 
surprised,  when  one  recalls  the  wars  of  the  past,  that  America 
took  its  time  to  make  up  its  mind  about  the  character  of  this 
struggle.  In  Europe  most  of  the  great  wars  of  the  past 
were  waged  for  dynastic  aggrandizement  and  conquest.  No 
wonder  when  this  great  war  started  that  there  were  some 
elements  of  suspicion  still  lurking  in  the  minds  of  the  people 

219 


220  Democracy  Today 

of  the  United  States  of  America.  There  were  those  who 
thought  perhaps  that  Kings  were  at  their  old  tricks — and 
although  they  saw  the  gallant  Eepublic  of  France  fighting, 
they  some  of  them  perhaps  regarded  it  as  the  poor  victim  of 
a  conspiracy  of  monarchial  swashbucklers.  The  fact  that  the 
United  States  of  America  has  made  up  its  mind  finally  makes 
it  abundantly  clear  to  the  world  that  this  is  no  struggle  of 
that  character,  but  a  great  fight  for  human  liberty. 

They  naturally  did  not  know  at  first  what  we  had  endured 
in  Europe  for  years  from  this  military  caste  in  Prussia.  It 
never  has  reached  the  United  States  of  America.  Prussia 
was  not  a  democracy.  The  Kaiser  promises  that  it  will  be  a 
democracy  after  the  war.  I  think  he  is  right.  But  Prussia 
not  merely  was  not  a  democracy.  Prussia  was  not  a  State; 
Prussia  was  an  army.  It  had  great  industries  that  had  been 
highly  developed;  a  great  educational  system;  it  had  its 
universities,  it  had  developed  its  science. 

AH  these  were  subordinate  to  the  one  great  predominant 
purpose,  the  purpose  of  all — a  conquering  army  which  was  to 
intimidate  the  world.  The  army  was  the  spear-point  of 
Prussia;  the  rest  was  merely  the  haft.  That  was  what  we 
had  to  deal  with  in  these  old  countries.  It  got  on  the  nerves 
of  Europe.  They  knew  what  it  all  meant.  It  was  an  army 
that  in  recent  times  had  waged  three  wars,-  all  of  conquest, 
and  the  imceasing  tramp  of  its  legions  through  the  streets  of 
Prussia,  on  the  parade  grounds  of  Prussia,  had  got  into  the 
Prussian  head.  The  Kaiser,  when  he  witnessed  on  a  grand, 
scale  his  reviews,  got  drunk  with  the  sound  of  it.'  He  deliv- 
ered the  law  to  the  world  as  if  Potsdam  was  another  Sinai, 
and  he  was  uttering  the  law  from  the  thunder  clouds. 

But  make  no  mistake.  Europe  was  uneasy.  Europe  was 
half  intimidated.  Europe  was  anxious.  Europe  was  appre- 
hensive. We  knew  the  whole  time  what  it  meant.  What  we 
did  not  know  was  the  moment  it  would  come. 

This  is  the  menace,  this  is  the  apprehension  from  which 
Europe  has  suffered  for  over  fifty  years.*  It  paralyzed  the 
beneficent  activity  of  all  States,  w^hich  ought  to  be  devoted 


Meaning  of  America's  Entrance  Into  the  War 221 

to  concentrating  on  the  well-being  of  their  peoples.  They 
had  to  think  about  this  menace,  which  was  there  constantly 
as  a  cloud  ready  to  burst  over  the  land.  No  one  can  tell 
except  Frenchmen  what  they  endured  from  this  tyranny, 
patiently,  gallantly,  with  dignity,  till  the  hour  of  deliverance 
came.'  The  best  energies  of  domestic  science  had  been 
devoted  to  defending  itself  against  the  impending  blow. 
France  was  like  a  nation  which  put  up  its  right  arm  to  ward 
off  a  blow,  and  could  not  give  the  whole  of  her  strength  to 
the  great  things  which  she  was  capable  of.  That  great, 
bold,  imaginative,  fertile  mind,  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  clearing  new  paths  for  progress,  was  paralyzed. 

That  is  the  state  of  things  we  had  to  encounter.  The  most 
characteristic  of  Prussian  institutions  is  the  Hindenberg  line. 
What  is  the  Hindenburg  line?  The  Hindenburg  line  is  a  line 
drawn  in  the  territories  of  other  people,  with  a  warning  that 
the  inhabitants  of  those  territories  shall  not  cross  it  at  the 
peril  of  their  lives.  That  line  has  been  drawn  in  Europe  for 
fifty  years. 

You  recollect  what  happened  some  years  ago  in  France, 
when  the  French  Foreign  Minister*"  was  practically  driven 
out  of  office  by  Prussian  interference.  Why?  What  had  he 
done?  He  had  done  nothing  which  a  Minister  of  an  inde- 
pendent State  had  not  the  most  absolute  right  to  do.  He 
had  crossed  the  imaginary  line  drawn  in  French  territory 
by  Prussian  despotism,  and  he  had  to  leave.  Europe,  after 
enduring  this  for  generations,  made  up  its  mind  at  last  that 
the  Hindenburg  line  must  be  drawn  along  the  legitimate 
frontiers  of  Germany  herself.  There  could  be  no  other  atti- 
tude than  that  for  the  emancipation  of  Europe  and  the -world. 

It  was  hard  at  first  for  the  people  of  America  quite  to 
appreciate  that  Germany  had  not  interfered  to  the  same 
extent  with  their  freedom,  if  at  all.  But  at  last  they  endured 
the  same  experience  as  Europe  had  been  subjected  to.  Amer- 
icans were  told  that  they  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  cross 
and  recross  the  Atlantic  except  at  their  peril.  American 
ships  were  sunk  without  warning.     American  citizens  were 


222  Democracy  Today 

drowned,  hardly  with  an  apology — in  fact,  as  a  matter  of 
German  right.  At  first  America  could  hardly  believe  it. 
They  could  not  think  it  possible  that  any  sane  people  should 
behave  in  that  manner.  And  they  tolerated  it  once,  and 
they  tolerated  it  twice,  until  it  became  clear  that  the  Ger- 
mans really  meant  it.  Then  America  acted,  and  acted 
promptly. 

The  Hindenburg  line  was  drawn  along  the  shores  of 
America,  and  the  Americans  were  told  they  must  not  cross 
it.  America  said,  "What  is  this?"  Germany  said,  "This 
is  our  line,  beyond  which  you  must  not  go,"  and  America 
said,  "The  place  for  that  line  is  not  the  Atlantic,  but  on 
the  Rhine — and  we  mean  to  help  you  roll  it  up." 

There  are  two  great  facts  which  clinch  the  argument  that 
this  is  a  great  struggle  for  freedom.  The  first  is  the  fact 
that  America  has  come  in.  She  would  not  have  come  in 
otherwise.  The  second  is  the  Russian  revolution.  When 
France  in  the  eighteenth  century  sent  her  soldiers  to  America 
to  fight  for  the  freedom  and  independence  of  that  land, 
France  also  was  an  autocracy  in  those  days.  But  Frenchmen 
in  America,  once  they  were  there — their  aim  was  freedom, 
their  atmosphere  was  freedom,  their  inspiration  was  free- 
dom. They  acquired  a  taste  for  freedom,  and  they  took  it 
home,  and  France  became  free.  That  is  the  story  of  Russia. 
Russia  engaged  in  this  great  war  for  the  freedom  of  Serbia, 
of  Montenegro,  of  Bulgaria,  and  has  fought  for  the  freedom 
of  Europe.  They  wanted  to  make  their  own  country  free, 
and  they  have  done  it.  The  Russian  revolution  is  not  merely 
the  outcome  of  the  struggle  for  freedom.  It  is  a  proof  of 
the  character  of  the  struggle  for  liberty,  and  if  the  Russian 
people  realize,  as  there  is  every  evidence  they  are  doing, 
that  national  discipline  is  not  incompatible  with  national 
freedom — nay,  that  national  discipline  is  essential  to  the 
security  of  national  freedom — they  will,  indeed,  become  a 
free  people. 

I  have  been  asking  myself  the  question.  Why  did  Germany, 
deliberately,  in  the  third  year  of  the  war,  provoke  America 


Meaning  of  America's  Entrance  Into  the  War 223 

to  this  declaration  and  to  this  action — deliberately,  reso- 
lutely? It  has  been  suggested  that  the  reason  was  that  there 
were  certain  elements  in  American  life,  and  they  were  under 
the  impression  that  they  would  make  it  impossible  for  the 
United  States  to  declare  war.  That  I  can  hardly  believe.  But 
the  answer  has  been  afforded  by  Marshal  von  Hindenburg 
himself,  in  the  very  remarkable  interview  which  appeared 
in  the  press,  I  think,  only  this  morning. 

He  depended  clearly  on  one  of  two  things.  First,  that 
the  submarine  campaign  would  have  destroyed  international 
shipping  to  such  an  extent  that  England  would  have  been  put 
out  of  business  before  America  was  ready.  According  to 
his  computation,  America  cannot  be  ready  for  twelve  months. 
He  does  not  know  America.  In  the  alternative,  that  when 
America  is  ready,  at  the  end  of  twelve  months,  with  her 
army,  she  will  have  no  ships  to  transport  that  army  to  the 
field  of  battle.  In  von  Hindenburg 's  words,  "America  car- 
ries no  weight,"  I  suppose  he  means  she  has  no  ships  to  carry 
weight.     On  that,  undoubtedly,  they  are  reckoning. 

Well,  it  is  not  wise  always  to  assume  that  even  when  the 
German  General  Staff,  which  has  miscalculated  so  often, 
makes  a  calculation  it  has  no  ground  for  it.  It  therefore 
behooves  the  whole  of  the  Allies,  Great  Britain  and  America 
in  particular,  to  see  that  that  reckoning  of  von  Hindenburg 
is  as  false  as  the  one  he  made  about  his  famous  line,  which 
we  have  broken  already. 

The  road  to  victory,  the  guarantee  of  victory,  the  abso- 
lute assurance  of  victory  is  to  be  found  in  one  word — ships; 
and  a  second  word — ships;  and  a  third  word — ships.  And 
with  that  quickness  of  apprehension  which  characterizes 
your  nation,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  see  that  they  fully  realize  that, 
and  today  I  observe  that  they  have  already  made  arrange- 
ments to  build  one  thousand  3000-tonners  for  the  Atlantic. 
I  think  that  the  German  military  advisers  must  already  begin 
to  realize  that  this  is  another  of  the  tragic  miscalculations 
which  are  going  to  lead  them  to  disaster  and  to  ruin.  But 
you  will  pardon  me  for  emphasizing  that.     We  are  a  slow 


224  Democracy  Today 

people  in  these  islands — slow  and  blundering — but  we  get 
there.  You  get  there  sooner,  and  that  is  why  I  am  glad  to 
see  you  in. 

But  may  I  say  that  we  have  been  in  this  business  for  three 
years?  We  have,  as  we  generally  do,  tried  every  blunder. 
In  golfing  phraseology,  we  have  got  into  every  bunker.  But 
we  have  got  a  good  niblick.  We  are  right  out  on  the  course. 
But  may  I  respectfully  suggest  that  it  is  worth  America's 
while  to  study  our  blunders,  so  as  to  begin  just  where  we 
are  now  and  not  where  we  were  three  years  ago?  That  is  an 
advantage.  In  war,  time  has  as  tragic  a  significance  as  it  has 
in  sickness.  A  step  which,  taken  today,  may  lead  to  assured 
victory,  taken  tomorrow  may  barely  avert  disaster.  All  the 
Allies  have  discovered  that.  It  was  a  new  country  for  us  all. 
It  was  trackless,  mapless.  We  had  to  go  by  instinct.  But 
we  found  the  way,  and  I  am  so  glad  that  you  are  sending 
your  great  naval  and  military  experts  here,  just  to  exchange 
experiences  with  men  who  have  been  through  all  the  dreary, 
anxious  crises  of  the  last  three  years. 

America  has  helped  us  even  to  win  the  battle  of  Arras. 
Do  you  know  that  these  guns  which  destroyed  the  German 
trenches,  shattered  the  barbed  wire — I  remember,  with  some 
friends  of  mine  whom  I  see  here,  arranging  to  order  the 
machines  to  make  those  guns  from  America.  Not  all  of  them 
— you  got  your  share,  but  only  a  share,  a  glorious  share.  So 
that  America  has  also  had  her  training.  She  has  been  mak- 
ing guns,  making  ammunition,  giving  us  machinery  to  pre- 
pare both;  she  has  supplied  us  with  steel,  and  she  has  got 
all  that  organization  and  she  has  got  that  wonderful  facility, 
adaptability,  and  resourcefulness  of  the  great  people  which 
inhabits  that  great  continent.  Ah!  It  was  a  bad  day  for 
military  autocracy  in  Prussia  when  it  challenged  the  great 
Republic  of  the  West.  We  know  what  America  can  do,  and 
we  also  know  that  now  she  is  in  it  she  will  do  it.  She  will 
wage  an  effective  and  successful  war. 

There  is  something  more  important.  She  will  insure  a 
beneficent  peace.     I  attach  great  importance — and  I  am  the 


Meaning  of  America's  Entrance  Into  the  War 225 

last  man  in  the  world,  knowing  for  three  years  what  our 
difficulties  have  been,  what  our  anxieties  have  been,  and  what 
our  fears  have  been — I  am  the  last  man  to  say  that  the  succor 
which  is  given  to  us  from  America  is  not  something  in  itself 
to  rejoice  in,  and  to  rejoice  in  greatly.  But  I  don't  mind 
saying  that  I  rejoice  even  more  in  the  knowledge  that 
America  is  going  to  win  the  right  to  be  at  the  conference 
table  when  the  terms  of  peace  are  being  discussed.  That 
conference  will  settle  the  destiny  of  nations — the  course 
of  human  life — for  God  knows  how  many  ages.  It  would 
have  been  tragic  for  mankind  if  America  had  not  been  there, 
and  there  with  all  the  influence,  all  the  power,  and  the  right 
which  she  has  now  won  by  flinging  herself  into  this  great 
struggle. 

I  can  see  peace  coming  now — not  a  peace  which  will  be 
the  beginning  of  war;  not  a  peace  which  will  be  an  endless 
preparation  for  strife  and  bloodshed;  but  a  real  peace.  The 
world  is  an  old  world.  It  has  never  had  peace.  It  has  been 
rocking  and  swaying  like  an  ocean,  and  Europe — poor 
Europe! — has  always  lived  under  the  menace  of  the  sword. 
When  this  war  began  two-thirds  of  Europe  were  under 
autocratic  rule.  It  is  the  other  way  about  now,  and  democ- 
racy means  peace.  The  democracy  of  France  did  not  want 
war;  the  democracy  of  Italy  hesitated  long  before  they 
entered  the  war;  the  democracy  of  this  country  shrank  from 
it — shrank  and  shuddered — and  never  would  have  entered 
the  caldron  had  it  not  been  for  the  invasion  of  Belgium. 
The  democracies  sought  peace;  strove  for  peace.  If  Prussia 
had  been  a  democracy  there  would  have  been  no  war.  Strange 
things  have  happened  in  this  war.  There  are  stranger  things 
to  come,  and  they  are  coming  rapidly. 

There  are  times  in  history  when  this  world  spins  so  leis- 
urely along  its  destined  course  that  it  seems  for  centuries 
to  be  at  a  standstill;  but  there  are  also  times  when  it  rushes 
along  at  a  giddy  pace,  covering  the  track  of  centuries  in  a 
year.  Those  are  the  times  we  are  living  in  now.  Six  weeks 
ago  Russia  was  an  autocracy;  she  now  is  one  of  the  most 


226  Democracy  Today 

advanced  democracies  in  the  world.  Today  we  are  waging 
the  most  devastating  war  that  the  world  has  ever  seen; 
tomorrow — perhaps  not  a  distant  tomorrow — war  may  be 
abolished  forever  from  the  category  of  human  crimes.  This 
may  be  something  like  the  fierce  outburst  of  Winter  which 
we  are  now  witnessing  before  the  complete  triumph  of  the 
sun.  It  is  written  of  those  gallant  men  who  won  that  victory 
on  Monday' — men  from  Canada,  from  Australia,  and  from 
this  old  country,  which  has  proved  that  in  spite  of  its  age 
it  is  not  decrepit — it  is  written  of  those  gallant  men  that  they 
attacked  with  the  dawn — fit  work  for  the  dawn! — to  drive 
out  of  forty  miles  of  French  soil  those  miscreants  who  had 
defiled  it  for  three  years.  "They  attacked  with  the  dawn." 
Significant  phrase! 

The  breaking  up  of  the  dark  rule  of  the  Turk,  which  for 
centuries  has  clouded  the  sunniest  land  in  the  world,  the 
freeing  of  Russia  from  an  oppression  which  has  covered  it 
like  a  shroud  for  so  long,  the  great  declaration  of  President 
Wilson  coming  with  the  might  of  the  great  nation  which  he 
represents  into  the  struggle  for  liberty  are  heralds  of  the 
dawn.  "They  attacked  with  the  dawn,"  and  these  men  are 
marching  forward  in  the  full  radiance  of  that  dawn,  and 
soon  Frenchmen  and  Americans,  British,  Italians,  Russians, 
yea,  and  Serbians,  Belgians,  Montenegrins,  will  march  into 
the  full  light  of  a  perfect  day. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

PREAMBLE 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare, 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  poster- 
ity, do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I 

THE  LEGISLATIVE  DEPARTMENT 

The  Congress :  Its  Divisions  and  Powers 
Section   1.    All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall   be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist 
of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

The  House:   Its  Composition  and  Powers 

See.  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of 
members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several 
states,  and  the  electors  in  each  state  shall  liave  the  qualifica- 
tions requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the 
state  legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  representative  who  shall  not  have  attained 
to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an 
inhabitant  of  that  state  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

(Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  states  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union, 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined 
by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including  those 
bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons.*)     The  actual  enumera- 


♦Partly  superseded  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 


228  Democracy  Today 

tion  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meeting  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent 
term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct. 
The  number  of  representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every 
thirty  thousand,  but  each  state  shall  have  at  least  one  repre- 
sentative; and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made  the  state 
of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose  three;  Massachu- 
setts, eight;  Khode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  one; 
Connecticut,  five;  New  York,  six;  New  Jersey,  four;  Pennsyl- 
vania, eight;  Delaware,  one;  Maryland,  six;  Virginia,  ten; 
North  Carolina,  five;  South  Carolina,  five;  and  Georgia,  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  state, 
the  executive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to 
fill  such  vaeaneies. 

The  House  of  Kepresentatives  shall  choose  their  Speaker  and 
other  officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

The  Senate:  Its  Composition  and  Powers 

Sec.  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  legislature 
thereof,  for  six  years;  and  each  senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of 
the  first  election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be 
into  three  classes.  The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class 
shall  be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year;  of  the 
second  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth  year;  of  the  third 
class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one-third  may 
be  chosen  every  second  year;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by  resig- 
nation, or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any 
state,  the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments 
until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature,  which  shall  fill  such 
vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  agr  cf  thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant 
of  that  state  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice-president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  president  of 
the  Senate,  out  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        229 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  presi- 
dent pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-president,  or  when 
he  shall  exercise  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments ; 
when  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirma- 
tion. When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the 
Chief  Justice  shall  preside;  and  no  person  shall  be  convicted 
without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further 
than  to  removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and 
enjoy  any  office  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit  under  the  United 
States;  but  the  party  convicted  shall,  neverthless,  be  liable  and 
subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment,  and  punishment  accord- 
ing to  law. 

Congressional  Elections  and  Date  of  Assembly 

Sec.  4.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections 
for  senators  and  representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in  each 
state  by  the  legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any 
time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  choosing  senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and 
such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless 
they  shall  by  law  appoint  a  different  day. 

Rules  of  Procedure  of  Senate  and  House 

Sec.  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority  of  each 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business;  but  a  smaller  number 
may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel 
the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner  and  under 
such  penalties  as  each  house  may  provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish 
its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence 
of  two-thirds,  expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from 
time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in 
their  judgment  require  secrecy;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the 
members  of  either  house  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of 
one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 


230  Democracy  Today 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be 
sitting. 

Compensation  and  Privileges  of  Members 

Sec.  6.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a  com- 
pensation for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid 
out  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all 
cases,  except  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  privi- 
leged from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session  of  their 
respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same; 
and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  place. 

No  senator  or  representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which 
lie  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  United  States  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the 
emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased,  during  such 
time;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under  the  United  States 
shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during  Ihis  continuance  in 
office. 

Methods  of  Legislation 

Sec.  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  con- 
cur with  amendments  as  on  other  bills. 

Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives and  the  Senate  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented . 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States;  if  he  approve,  he  shall 
sign  it,  but  if  not,  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  objections,  to 
that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter 
the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  recon- 
sider it.  If  after  such  reconsideration  two-thirds  of  that  house 
shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the 
objections,  to  the  other  house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be 
reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two-thirds  of  that  house,  it 
shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases  the  votes  of  both 
houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of 
the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        231 

the  journal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not 
be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted) 
after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a 
law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress 
by  their  adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall 
not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Kepresentatives  may  be  necessary 
(except  on  a  question  of  adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States ;  and  before  the  same  shall  take 
effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him, 
shall  be  repassed  by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  pre- 
scribed in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

Powers  Vested  in  Congress 

Sec.  8.    The  Congress  shall  have  power: 

To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay 
the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defenses  and  general 
welfare  of  the  United  States;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  among  the 
several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform 
laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States ; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof^  and  of  foreign 
coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securi- 
ties and  current  coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads; 
■  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  secur- 
ing, for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive 
right  to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries; 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the 
high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations; 


232  DemoorQ,cy  Today 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and 
make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water ; 

To  raise  and  support  ftrmies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money 
to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years ; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land 
and  naval  forces; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of 
the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
mUitia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  states, 
respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  oflSjcers  and  the  authority 
of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 
Congress ; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over 
such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  ces- 
sion of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress, 
become  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by  the  consent 
of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same  Shall  be,  for 
the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other 
needful  buildings;  and — 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other 
powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof. 

Limits  to  Powers  of  the  Federal  Government 
Sec.  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any 
of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not 
be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on 
such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  when  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public 
safety  may  require  it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        233 

No  capitation  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  before  directed  to 
be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any 
state. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce 
or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of  another;  nor 
shall  vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  state,  be  obliged  to  enter, 
clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  conse- 
quence of  appropriations  made  by  law;  and  a  regular  statement 
and  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public 
money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States. 
And  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them 
shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
emolument,  office,  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king, 
prince,  or  foreign  state. 

Limits  to  Powers  of  the  States 

Sec.  10.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  con- 
federation; grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money; 
emit  bills  of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post 
facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  or  grant 
any  title  of  nobility. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any 
imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the 
net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any  state  on 
imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision 
and  control  of  the  Congress. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty 
of  tonnage,  keep  troops,  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter 
into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  state,  or  with  a 
foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in 
such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 


234  Democracy  Today 

ARTICLE  II 

THE  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT 

The  Executive  Officers;  the  Electoral  College 

Section  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during 
the  term  of  four  years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice-President, 
chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected,  as  follows: 

Each  state  shall. appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole 
number  of  senators  and  representatives  to  which  the  state  may 
be  entitled  in  the  Congress;  but  no  senator  or  representative, 
or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

(The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an 
inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves.  And  they  shall 
make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  number  of 
votes  for  each ;  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  trans- 
mit sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
directed  to  the  president  of  the  Senate.  The  president  of  the 
Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be 
counted.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall 
be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one 
who  have  such  majority,  and  have  an  equal  number  of  votes, 
then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately  choose  by 
ballot  one  of  them  for  President;  and  if  no  person  have  a 
majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list  the  said  House 
shall,  in  like  manner,  choose  the  President.  But  in  choosing 
the  President  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representa- 
tion from  each  state  having  one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose 
shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of  the 
states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.  In  every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors  shall 


.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        235 

be  the  Vice-President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more 
who  have  equal  votes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them  by 
ballot  the  Vice-president.*) 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  electors, 
^nd  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes;  which  day 
shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

No  person  except  a  natural-born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President;  neither  shall  any 
person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident 
within  the  United  States. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of 
his  death,  resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice- 
president,  and  the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case 
of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  both  of  the 
President  and  Vice-President,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then 
act  as  President;  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until 
the  disability  be  removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

The  president  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services 
a  compensation  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished 
during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolument  from 
the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take 
the  following  oath  or  affirmation:  "I  do  solemnly  swear  (or 
affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  pre- 
serve, protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States." 

Powers  Granted  to  the  President 

Sec.  2.  The  President  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the 
several  states,  when  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United 


•This  paragraph  was  in  force  only  from  1788  to  1803. 


236  Democracy  Today 

States;  he  may  acquire  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal 
oflBcer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon  any  subject 
relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices;  and  he  shall 
have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses  against 
the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  senators 
present  concur;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  Senate  shall  appoint,  ambassadors, 
other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States  whose  appoint- 
ments are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall 
be  established  by  law;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the 
appointment  of  such  inferior  offices  as  they  think  proper  in  the 
President  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  de- 
partments. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  vacancies  that  may 
happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commissions 
which  will  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

The  President's  Duties 
Sec.  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their 
consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  ex- 
pedient; he  may,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both 
houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between 
them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn 
them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive 
ambassadors  and  other  public  ministers;  he  shall  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the 
officers  of  the  United  States. 

Impeachment  of  Executive  and  Civil  Officers 
Sec.  4.     The  President,  Vice-president,  and  all  civil  officers 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeach- 
ment  for,   and   conviction   of,   treason,   bribery,   or   other   high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors. 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        237 
AETICLE  III 

THE  JUDICIAL  DEPARTMENT 

TTie  Federal  Courts — Supreme  and  Inferior 

Section  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as* 
the  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
judges,  both  of  the  Supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive 
for  their  services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be  diminished 
during  their  continuance  in  office. 

Powers  and  Jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Courts 
Sec.  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law 
and  equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under 
their  authority;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public 
ministers,  and  consuls;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
jurisdiction;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall 
be  a  party;  to  controversies  between  two  or  more  states;  (be- 
tween a  state  and  citizens  of  another  state*) ;  between  citizens 
of  different  states;  between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming 
lands  under  grants  of  different  states,  and  between  a  state,  or 
the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  states,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and 
consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  state  shall  be  a  party,  the  Su- 
preme Court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other 
cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate 
jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions  and 
under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall 
be  by  jury;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  state  where  the 
said  crimes  shall  have  been  committed;  but  when  not  com- 
mitted within  any  state,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places 
as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 


•Cancelled  by  the  Eleventh  Amendment. 


238  Democracy  Today 

Treason:  Its  Nature  and  Punishment 
See.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only 
in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies, 
giving  them  aid  and  comfort.  No  person  shall  be  convicted  of 
treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the~  same 
overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of 
treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of 
blood,  or  forfeiture,  except  during  the  life  of  the  person  at- 
tained. 

ARTICLE  IV 

RELATION  OF  THE  STATE  AND  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENTS 

Recognition  of  State  Authority 

Section  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  state 
to  the  public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every 
other  state.  And  the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe 
the  manner  in  which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

Laws  Begarding  Citizens  of  the  States 

Sec.  2.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  state, 
shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  state  hav- 
ing jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the  laws 
thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law 
or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor, 
but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
seniee  or  labor  may  be  due. 
Admission  of  States  and  Regulation  of  United  States  Territories 

Sec.  3.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union;  but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  any  other  state;  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the 
junction  of  two  or  more  states,  or  parts  of  states,  without  the 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        239 

consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  states  concerned  as  well  as  of 
the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  state. 

Protection  Guaranteed  by  the  Federal  Government 

Sec.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in 
this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion ;  and  on  application  of  the  legis- 
lature, or  of  the  executive  (when  the  legislature  cannot  be  con- 
vened), against  domestic  violence. 

AETICLE  V 

POWER    AND    METHOD    OF    AMENDING    THE    CONSTITUTION 

The  Congress  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  houses  shall  deem 
it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or, 
on  the  application  of  the  legislature  of  two-thirds  of  the  several 
states,  shall  call  a  convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which, 
in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part 
of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  legislature  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths 
thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  pro- 
posed by  the  Congress;  provided  that  no  amendment  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
shall  in  any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the 
ninth  section  of  the  first  article;  and  that  no  state,  without 
its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the 
Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI 
PXJBLic  debts;  the  supreme  law;  oath  of  office;  religious 

TEST  prohibited 

All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  entered  into  before 
the  adoption  of  this  Constitution  shall  be  as  valid  against  the 
United  States  under  this  Constitution  as  under  the  confed- 
eration. 


240  -  Democracy  today 

This  (Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof ;  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land;  and  the  judges  in  every 
state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or 
laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
members  of  the  several  state  legislatures,  and  al)  executive  and 
judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
states,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support  this 
constitution;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a 
qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE  VII 

EATIWCATION  AND   ESTABLISHMENT   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION 

The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine  states  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
states  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimi'iii'  consent  of  the  states 

.  present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our 

Lord   one   thousand   seven   hundred   and    eighty-seven,   and   of 

the  independence  of  the  United  States  ot  America  the  twelfth. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names, 

GEO.  WASHINGTON,  Deputy   from   Virginia. 

New  Hampshire:  New  Jersey: 

John  Langdon  William  Livingston 

Nicholas  Gil  man  David  Brearley 


Massachusetts  : 

Nathaniel  Gorham 


William  Paterson 
Jonathan  Dayton 

Pennsylvania  : 

Sufus  King  r>      •       •     -r.       1  !• 

"  Benjamin  Franklin 

Connecticut:  '^^''°^^«  ^^^^^^ 

William  Samuel  Johnson  ^°^«^<^  ^^""^^ 

Roger  Sherman  ^^°^g«  ^^^^^r 

Thomas  Fitzsimmons 

New  York:  James  Wilson 

Alexander  Hamilton  Gouverneur  Morris 


The  Constitutio7i  of  the  United  States        241 

Delawaee:  North  Caeolina: 
George  Eeed  William  Blount 

Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.  Eichard  Dobbs  Spaight 

John  Dickinson  Hugh  Williamson 

Eichard  Bassett  South  Carolina: 
Jacob  Broom  John  Eutledge 

Maryland:  Charles  Pinckney 

James  McHenry  Charles  Cotesworth 

Daniel  of  St.  Thomaa  Pinckney 

Jenifer  Pierce  Butler 

Daniel  Carroll  Georgia: 

Virginia:  William  Few 

John  Blair  Abraham  Baldwin 

James  Madison,  Jr. 

Attest:     WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 

AMENDMENTS 

Articles  in  addition  to,  and  amendments  of,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  proposed  by  Congress,  and 
ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  pursuant  to  the 
fifth  article  of  the  original  Constitution. 
AETICLE  I 

FREEDOM  OP  RELIGION  AND  SPEECH ;  EIGHT  OF  ASSEMBLY 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a 
redress  of   grievances. 

AETICLE  II 

EIGHT   TO   BEAE  ARMS 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a 
free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall 
not  be  infringed. 

AETICLE  III 

QUARTERING  OF  TROOPS 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner;  nor  in  time  of  war  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 


242  Democracy  Today 

ARTICLE  IV 

RIGHT  OF   SEARCH   PROHIBITED 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 
shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  prob- 
able cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly 
describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things 
to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V 

EIGHT   OF   TRIAL   BY   JURT 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a 
grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces, 
or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war  and 
public  danger;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same 
offense  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  and  limb;  nor  shall 
be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  him- 
self, nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due 
process  of  law;  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public 
use,  without  just  compensation. 

ARTICLE  VI 

RIGHTS  OP  ACCUSED  IN  CRIMINAL  CASES 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  state 
and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which 
district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to 
be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation;  to  be 
confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to  have  compulsory 
process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

ARTICLE  VII 

SUITS   AT    COMMON    LAW 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  pre- 
served, and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-exam- 
ined in  any  court  of  the  United  States  than  according  to  the 
rules  of  common  law. 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        243 
AETICLE   Vlir 

BAIL  AND  FINES 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  im- 
posed, nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 
AETICLE  IX 

MODIFICATION  OF  ENUMERATED  RIGHTS 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights  shall  not 
be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 
AETICLE  X 

POV?ERS    RESERVED    TO    STATES    AND    THE    PEOPLE 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Consti- 
tution, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the 
states  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

AETICLE    XI 

LIMITATION  TO  POWER  OF  THE  FEDERAL  COURTS 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted  against   one  of   the   United  States  by  citizens   of 
another  state,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  state. 
AETICLE  XII 

NEW  ELECTORAL  LAW 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  President  and  Vice-president,  one  of  whom,  at Jeast, 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves; 
they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Presi- 
dent, and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-presi- 
dent ;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for 
as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-president,  and 
of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and 
certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate;  the 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Eepresentatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and 
the  votes  shall  then  be  counted;  the  person  having  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  for  President  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  ap- 
pointed; and  if  no  person  have  such  majority,  then  from  the 


244  Democracy  Today 

persons  having  the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three  on  the 
list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President.  But 
in  choosing  the  President,  the  vote  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the 
representation  from  each  state  having  one  vote.  A  quorum  for 
this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two- 
thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be 
necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall 
devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  follow- 
ing, then  the  Vice-president  shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  President. 
The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-presi- 
dent shaU  be  the  Vice-president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority 
of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person 
have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the 
list  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-president.  A  quorum  for 
the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of 
senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary 
to  a  choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the 
office  of  President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of 
the    United   States. 

ARTICLE  XIII 

ABOLITION  OF  SLAVEEY 

Slavery  and  Involuntary  Servitude  Prohibited 
Section  1.     Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except 

as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been 

duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 

subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 
Sec.  2.    Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 

appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV 

NEW  LAWS  MADE  NECESSAKY  BY  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

Qualifications  for  Citizenship 
Section  1.     All  persons  born  or   naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  state  wherein  they  reside.     No 


The  Constitution  of  the  United  States        245 

state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the 
privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor 
shall  any  state  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law;  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its 
jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

Apportionment  of  Representatives 
Sec.  2.  Eepresentatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  sev- 
eral states  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the 
whole  number  of  persons  in  each  state,  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice 
of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  representatives  in  Congress,  the  executive  or  judicial 
oflScers  of  a  state,  or  the  members  of  the  legislature  thereof,  is 
denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  state,  being 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or 
in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion,  or 
other  crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced 
in  the  proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall 
bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of 
age  in  such  state. 

Disability  for  Breaking  Oath  of  Ofjice 
Sec.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  senator,  or  representative  in 
Congress,  or  elector  of  President  or  Vice-President,  or  hold  any 
office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any 
state,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member 
of  any  state  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer 
of  any  state,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have-engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same, 
or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress 
may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  house,  remove  such  dis- 
ability. 

The  Public  Debt 
Sec.  4.     The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States, 
authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pen- 
sions and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or 
rebellion,    shall   not   be    questioned.      But    neither   the    United 


246  Democracy  Today 

States  nor  any  state  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation 
incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave ; 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations,  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal 
and  void. 

Sec.  5.     Congress  shall  have  the  power  to  enforce,  by  appro- 
priate legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 
ARTICLE  XV 

RIGHT   OF   SUFFRAGE 

Right  Guaranteed  to  All  Citizens 
Section  1.     The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote 
shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any 
state,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servi- 
tude. 

Sec.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE  XVI 

INCOME  TAX 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes  on 
incomes,  from  whatever  source  derived,  without  apportionment 
among  the  several  states,  and  without  regard  to  any  census  or 
enumeration. 

ARTICLE  XVII 

ELECTION  OF  SENATORS 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  elected  by  the  people  thereof,  for  six 
years;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  vote.  The  electors  in 
each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors 
of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  legislatures. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  of  any  State 
in  the  Senate,  the  executive  authority  of  such  State  shall  issue 
writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies:  Provided,  That  the 
legislature  of  any  State  may  empower  the  executive  thereof 
to  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  people  fill  the  vacan- 
cies by  election  as  the  legislature  may  direct. 

This  amendment  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  affect  the 
election  or  term  of  any  Senator  chosen  before  it  becomes  valid 
as  part  of  the  Constitution. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  EXPLANATORY  NOTES 

Abraham  Lincoln  (1809-1865) 

The  circumstances  of  the  writing  and  delivery  of  Lincoln's 
address  at  Gettysburg  are  so  well  known  as  scarcely  to  need 
recounting.  The  battle  had  been  fought  July  1-2-3  of  1863 
and  the  check  there  sustained  by  the  Confederacy  marked  the 
turning  point  in  the  Civil  War.  Lincoln's  address,  delivered 
Nov.  19,  1863,  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Gettysburg  National 
Cemetery,  has  remained  one  of  the  most  important  and  strik- 
ing documents  in  the  history  of  American  Democracy.  His 
definition  of  our  system  of  rule  "as  government  of  the  peo- 
ple, by  the  people,  for  the  people"  has  become  a  touchstone 
of  one 's  Americanism. 

The  reading  of  this  famous  passage,  almost  universally 
adopted  in  our  time,  which  places  the  emphasis  on  the  prepo- 
sitions of,  by,  and  for  is  incorrect  in  the  sense  that  it  is  not 
that  used  by  Lincoln  himself.  President  John  Grier  Hibben 
of  Princeton  University  informs  the  editor  that  one  of  the 
audience  on  that  memorable  day  has  assured  him  that  the 
emphasis  was  placed  by  Lincoln  unmistakably  on  the  word 
people,  which  he  made  stronger  with  each  repetition,  "govern- 
rment  of  the  people,  by  the  people^  for  the  PEOPLE. "  It  ia 
natural  that  Lincoln  should  have  done  this,  for  to  him  one  of 
the  greatest  advantages  in  our  system  of  government  was  the 
importance  and  the  opportunity  it  gave  to  the  young  citizen 
poor  in  purse  and  social  station.  This  was  one  of  the  reasons 
why  he  believed  slavery  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  democracy.  He 
was  proud  to  count  himself  one  of  the  people.  The  point  was 
brought  out  sharply  in  his  speech  delivered  at  New  Haven, 
March  6,  1860,  before  his  election  to  the  Presidency. 

' '  One  of  the  reasons  w^hy  I  am  opposed  to  slavery  is  just 
this:  what  is  the  true  condition  of  the  laborer?  I  take  it  that 
it  is  best  for  all  to  leave  each  man  free  to  acquire  property 
as  fast  as  he  can.  Some  will  get  wealthy.  I  don't  believe  in 
a  law  to  prevent  a  man  from  getting  rich;  it  would  do  more 

247 


248  Democracy   Today 

Page 

harm  than  good.  So  while  we  do  not  propose  any  war  on  cap- 
ital, we  do  wish  to  allow  the  humblest  man  an  equal  chance  to 
get  rich  with  everybody  else.  When  one  starts  poor,  as  most 
of  us  do  in  the  race  of  life,  free  society  is  such  that  he  knows 
he  can  better  his  condition ;  he  knows  that  there  is  no  fixed 
condition  of  labor  for  his  whole  life.  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
confess  that  twenty-five  years  ago  I  was  a  hired  laborer,  maul- 
ing rails,  at  work  on  a  flatboat — just  what  might  happen  to 
any  poor  man's  son.  I  want  every  man  to  have  a  chance — 
and  I  befieve  a  black  man  is  entitled  to  it — in  which  he  can 
better  his  condition — where  he  may  look  forward  and  hope  to 
be  a  hired  laborer  this  year  and  the  next,  work  for  himself 
afterward,  and  finally  to  hire  men  to  work  for  him.  That  is 
the  true  system. ' ' 

Further  light  on  the  character  of  Lincoln  will  be  found  in 
President  Wilson's  address  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  pages  96-101. 

Lincoln's  Getxysbueg  Address 

(Bold  face  figures  refer  to  pages;  plain  figures  to  note  num- 
bers in  text.) 

"•  1.  Lincoln  with  characteristic  modesty  little  thought  that  his 
address  would  go  down  to  posterity.  Before  its  delivery  he 
told  a  friend  f    "  It  is  a  flat  failure.    The  people  won 't  like  it. ' ' 

'8-  2.  This  definition  of  our  government  may  possibly  have  been 
suggested  to  Lincoln  by  a  phrase  of  the  abolitionist  preacher, 
Theodore  Parker,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  1858.  Parker's 
statement  rah  "Democracy  is  direct  self-government,  over  all 
the  people,  lay  all  the  people,  for  all  the  people."  Lincoln's 
simpler  statement  is  in  any  case  more  effective. 

is  aBwr  .tti^ttJia^'  James  Russell  Lowell 
Jaimes  Kussell  'Lowell,  1819-1891,  added  to  his  fame  as  poet 
and  essayist,  the  distinction  of  having  served  his  country  as 
ambassador  to  Spain  1876-1880,  and  to  Great  Britain,  1880- 
1885.  He  performed  a  particularly  useful  service  in  interpret- 
ing England  and  the  United  States  to  each  other.  The  address 
on  Democracy,  which  shows  his  optimistic  faith  and  native 
Americanism,  was  delivered  during  this  period  of  his  stay  in 
England.  It  should  be  remembered  that  as  late  as  1884,  Ameri- 
can democracy  was  still  ia  European  eyes  on  the  defensive. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        249 

Page 

Democracy 

20-  1.  Plato  is  more  idealistic  than  Aristotle;  hence  "the  tower 
of  Plato."  His  works,  with  chose  of  Aristotle,  constitute  the 
most  important  body  of  ancient  philosophy. 

22-  2.  Lowell,  born  in  1819  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  on  the  edge  of 
the  open  country,  had  seen  the  transformation  of  his  section 
from  a  rural  to  an  industrial  population.  The  Trench  trav- 
elers had  brought  back  glowing  accounts  of  the  simple  life  of 
the  American  settlers  and  even  of  the  American  Indians. 
Though  Lowell  did  not  like  the  change  he  would  not  willingly 
testify  against  it;  hence  the  reference  to  Balf-ara.  See  Num- 
bers, xxii,  xxiii. 

3.  The  property  qualification  for  suffrage,  general  in  the 
early  years  of  our  government,  had  been  abolished  in  Massa- 
chusetts at  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1820. 

4.  In  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  Massachusetts  paid  out  in 
bounties  and  bounty  loans  $26,000,000  and  the  war  debt  of  the 
state  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  $15,000,000. 

24-  5.  In  the  speech  on  Moving  his  Resolution  for  Conciliation 
with  the  Colonies,  March  22,  1775,  Burke  says,  "I  do  not 
know  the  method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a  whole 
people."  Select  Works,  Clarendon  Press,  1892,  Vol.  I,  p.  192. 
It  is  impossible  to  identify  exactly  the  "French  gentleman" 
referred  to.  Lowell  may  have  been  thinking  of  the  well- 
known  critic  and  historian,  Taine,  who  satirized  certain  Ameri- 
can tendencies  in  his  Life  and  Opinions  of  F.  T.  Graindorge. 

6.  Zola  (1840-1902)  was  at  this  time  (1884)  the  most  dis- 
cussed novelist  in  France.  His  novels  include  "naturalistic" 
pictures  of  the  worst  and  most  depraved  elements  in  French 
life. 

7.  Democracy  was  not  nearly  so  popular  in  Europe  in  1884 
as  it  is  at  present.  The  excesses  of  the  Paris  Commune  in 
1871  had  dealt  a  severe 'blow  to  the  idea  that  the  people  can 
govern  themselves.  The  great  Civil  War  through  which  we 
ourselves  had  passed  had  likewise  discouraged  enthusiasm  for 
democracy. 


250  Democracy   Today 

Pas* 

25.  8.  A  species  of  grape  louse  which  at  this  time  was  ruining 
the  vineyards  of  France. 

8a.  The  Boers  had  started  a  revolt  in  1880  and  in  1881 
routed  the  small  British  force  at  Majuba  Hill. 

9.  A  distinguished  Venetian  ambassador   (1507-1565). 

26.  10.  Not  one  but  many  of  the  fathers  of  the  church  con- 
tested the  rights  of  property.  The  medieval  church  held  that 
the  taking  of  interest  was  sinful  and  it  was  this  condemnation 
that  threw  money-lending  as  a  business  into  the  hands  of  the 
Jews.     It  made  no  distinction  between  usury  and  interest. 

11.  Proudhon  (1809-1865),  a  French  radical  and  socialist 
who  summarily  defined  property  as  a  theft  in  his  famous  volume 
What  Is  Property?  published  in  1840. 

12.  Bourdaloue  (1632-1704),  a  famous  French  pulpit  orator, 
not  at  all  revolutionary  in  his  general  conceptions. 

13.  Montesquieu  (1689-1755),  author  of  The  Spirit  of  the 
Laws  and  historically  the  most  important  of  the  modern  polit- 
ical writers.  His  work  influenced  the  framers  of  our  Consti- 
tution and  he  is  frequently  referred  to  by  Jefferson. 

National  workshops  (ateliers  nationaux)  were  established 
in  France  just  before  the  French  Eevolution,  but  Lowell  is 
doubtless  thinking  about  the  national  workshops  which  were 
founded  after  the  Eevolution  of  1848  in  France  and  which 
were  a  failure.  Lowell  strains  his  point  when  he  attributes 
them  to  Montesquieu.  He  is  trying  to  prove  in  this  passage 
that  most  of  the  "heresies"  attributed  to  American  Democracy 
were  in  existence  before  we  had  declared  our  independence. 

14.  Like  all  the  above  statements,  true  in  a  measure.  In 
the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  a  career  was  open  to  young 
men  of  ability,  whatever  their  station,  far  more  readily  than 
at  the  court  or  in  the  army  from  which  persons  not  of  noble 
birth  were  in  most  cases  excluded. 

15.  Charles  V.  (1500-1556),  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  in  the  time  of  Luther.  More  clearly  than  most  of  his 
contemporaries  he  saw  the  leaven  of  "democracy"  working  in 
the  reforms  demanded  of  the  church.  The  Reformation  was  a 
protest    against    outside    authority    in    religious    matters;    the 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        251 

Page 

American  and  French  Eevolutions  were  protests  against  sub- 
mission to  authority  in  political  matters.  The  refusal  to  submit 
to  the  rule  of  any  power  outside  ourselves  is  the  first  step  in 
democracy.  The  idea  of  "government  by  the  consent  of  the 
governed"  is  fundamental  to  it  and  is  frequently  emphasized 
by  President  Wilson,  as  in  the  close  of  his  A  World  League 
for  Peace.  Contrast  this  with  Emperor  William's  attitude  in 
Note  15  to  Wilson's  War  Message,  page  267. 

16.  That  is,  extreme  poverty  (Lazarus)  and  what  it  eiitails, 
slums,  unsanitary  conditions,  criminality,  are  plague-spots  in  a 
state,  which  the  existence  of  a  very  wealthy  class  (Dives)  does 
not  cure  or  compensate  for. 

27.  17.  "Forge  of  the  races  or  mother  of  peoples."  The  Brit- 
ish have  of  course  been  recognized  as  the  colonizing  people 
par  excellence. 

18.  Hamlet,  Act  II,  Scene  2. 

19.  The  "rights  of  man,"  a  phrase  frequently  used  by  rad- 
ical thinkers  in  France  in  the  18th  century,  became  a  shib- 
boleth of  the  French  Revolutionists.  Thomas  Paine  adopted  it 
as  the  title  of  his  famous  reply  to  Burke's  Reflections  on  the 
Revolution  in  France.  These  natural  rights  of  men  are  em- 
phasized in  the  second  paragraph  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Many  modern  political  thinkers  disagree  with  this 
doctrine  of  "natural  rights." 

28.  20.  Lowell  was  evidently  quoting  from  memory  the  opening 
lines  of  Coleridge's  Ode  to  France.  His  memory  tricked  him 
for  the  first  line  should  read — 

"The  Sensual  and  the  Dark  rebel  in  vain." 

29-      21.  See  Macbeth,  Act  II,  Scenes  2  and  3. 

22.  An  expression  of  despair.     See  I  Samuel,  iv,  21. 

30.  23.  Joseph  Priestly  (1733-1804),  a  nonconformist  minister 
of  liberal  tendencies,  famous  in  the  history  of  science  as  well 
as  of  religion.  He  was  mobbed  in  Birmingham  in  1791  but 
not  so  much  for  his  religious  opinions  as  for  his  sympathies 
with  the  French  Revolution.  He  spent  his  last  years  in 
America. 

31-     24.  The   fear  that   democracy   will   reduce   all  to   a  "dead 


252  Democracy   Today 

level"  has  frequently  been  entertained.  In  his  volume  on 
Walt  Whitman,  J.  A.  Symonds  discusses  the  question  whether 
there  can  be  any  great  poetry  of  democracy,  seeing  that  dem- 
ocracies must  lack  the  contrasts  of  older  civilizations.  The 
fear  is  groundless. 
32  25.  Theodore  Parker,  1810-1860,  an  advanced  New  England 
theologian  and  social  reformer  and  a  courageous  abolitionist. 
See  Xote  2  to  Lincoln 's  Gettysburg  Address. 

26.  Dekker's  beautiful  lines  deserve  quotation. 

"The  best  of  men 
That  e'er  wore  earth  about  him,  was  a  sufferer, 
A  soft,  meek,  patient,  humble,  tranquil  spirit, 
The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed." 
See  Thomas  Delcker,  edited  by  Ernest  Ehys.     The  Mermaid 
Series,  London,  1887,  page  190. 

27,  Perhaps  more  correctly  Jelal-ed-din-Eumi,  1207-1273,  a 
Persian  mystic  poet,  author  of  Mathnawi. 

27a.  The  idea  that  any  real  democracy  must  rest  on  a  basis 
of  ideals  is  one  frequently  encountered  in  President  Wilson's 
speeches  and  admirably  characterizes  the  American  attitude. 
33-  28.  The  belief  that  a  democracy  could  only  exist  in  a  small 
or  city-state  where  all  citizens  could  assemble  for  deliberation, 
was  frequently  held  and  supported  by  arguments  drawn  from 
history.  The  Greek  republics  as  well  as  the  Italian  republics 
of  the  late  Middle  Age  and  Eenaissance  and  the  northern 
Free  Cities  or  Communes  had  all  been  small.  The  Swiss  repub- 
lics, like  Geneva,  were  often  cited  and  indeed  Genera  was  the 
state  Rousseau  had  most  in  mind  in  writing  his  Social  Con- 
tr<ict.  We  must  not  forget  that  our  immensely  larger  democ 
racy  with  its  universal  manhood  suffrage  and  representative 
government  had  no  precedent  in  antiquity  or  indeed  in  modern 
times. 

28a.  The  reference  is  vague,  but  Lowell  is  probably  referring 
to  England.     Queen  Victoria  was  also  Empress  of  India. 

29.  This  is  an  extreme  statement  but  true  in  the  sense  that 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  did  not  wish  to  extend  suffrage 
to  all  citizens  regardless  of  qualifications  and  that  they  dis- 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        253 

?Page 

trusted  unreasoning  popular  movements.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  they  "put  as  many  obstacles  as  they  could  contrive,  not 
in  the  way  of  the  people's  will,  but  of  their  whim."  It  was 
for  this  reason  that  they  divided  the  functions  of  government 
into  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive.  In  adopting  this  sys- 
tem of  "checks  and  balances"  they  were  following  Montes- 
quieu.   On  all  this  see  the  Constitution,  Appendix. 

34.  30.  The  French  Revolution  had  tried  to  throw  overboard  all 
previous  French  tradition.  They  were  to  begin  with  the  Year 
One,  a  new  calendar,  a  new  religion,  an  entirely  new  system  of 
government  based,  so  they  thought,  on  reason  alone  and  made 
to  order.  Of  all  these  radical  innovations  the  metric  system 
alone  survived. 

31.  It  was  quite  generally  held  that  democracy  leads  to 
anarchy  since  the  people  are  unwilling  to  curb  themselves. 
Anarchy  in  its  turn  disappears  before  the  power  of  some  ambi- 
tious despot.  This  in  rough  outline  was  the  history  of  the 
French  nation  from  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  to  the 
Terror,  this  anarchy  giving  way  in  its  turn  to  the  supremacy 
of  Napoleon.  The  same  process  had  frequently  occurred  in  the 
Greek  republics  and  in  the  Italian  Cities  of  the  Renaissance. 

35.  32.  This  paragraph  makes  the  task  of  the  founders  of  the 
Republic  and  the  Framers  of  the  Constitution  seem  far  easier 
than  it  really  was.  The  local  state  governments  were  very 
unwilling  to  surrender  any  of  their  rights  or  property  and  the 
smaller  ones  were  jealous  of  the  larger.  Maryland  had  signed 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  only  in  1781  and  this  first  Fed- 
eration was  altogether  unsatisfactory.  State  legislated  against 
state,  especially  in  commercial  matters,  and  there  was  no  cen- 
tral authority  to  which  all  would  yield.  Yet  it  was  impossible 
to  frame  a  Constitution  until  1787  and  the  difficulties  encoun- 
tered were  serious  indeed.  See  Madison's  Journal  of  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  edited  by  E.  H.  Scott,  Scott,  Foresman 
&  Co.,  1892. 

33.  The  Missouri  Compromise  (1821)  admitted  Missouri  as 
a  slave  state  and  forbade  slavery  in  territory  west  of  Missouri 
and  north  of  36°   30',     It  perpetuated  the  situation  in  which 


254  Democracy   Today 

^age 

Lincoln  said  the  union  could  not  exist.     It  made  us  half  slave 
and  half  free.    Lowell  was  bitterly  opposed  to  slavery. 

37.  34.  Lowell's  memory  is  again  at  fault,  though  what  Carlyle 
said  was  "just  as  bad."  In  Latter  Day  Pamphlets  I,  "The 
Present  Time,"  Carlyle  pays  his  compliments  to  America  as 
follows, :  "Roast-goose  with  apple-sauce,  she  (America)  is  not 
much.  Roast-goose  with  apple  sauce  for  the  poorest  working 
man. ' ' 

35.  Lowell  probably  had  in  mind  the  Essay,  Of  Seditions  and 
Troubles,  though  Bacon  does  not  say  this  in  so  many  words. 
He  does  say  that  "the  rebellions  of  the  belly  are  the  worst." 

36.  In  this  matter  Lowell  himself  was  far-sighted.  At  the 
time  of  this  address  there  was  relatively  little  fear  of  trusts. 
The  agitation  and  legislation  against  them  became  important 
in  the  next  decade. 

38.  37.  From  Pippa  Passes  III.  The  last  line  should  read, 
' '  When  earth  was  nigher  heaven  than  now. ' ' 

39-  38.  This  was  the  objection  of  the  English  historian  and 
political  thinker,  Lecky,  who  says,  * '  One  of  the  great  divisions 
of  politics  in  our  day  is  coming  to  be  whether,  at  the  last 
resort,  the  world  should  be  governed  by  its  ignorance  or  by 
its  intelligence.  According  to  the  one  party,  the  preponderat- 
ing power  should  be  with  education  and  property.  According 
to  the  other,  the  ultimate  source  of  power,  the  supreme  right 
of  appeal  and  control,  belongs  legitimately  to  the  majority  of 
the  nation  told  by  the  head — or  in  other  words,  to  the  poorest, 
the  most  ignorant,  the  most  incapable,  who  are  necessarily  the 
most  numerous."  In  opposition  to  this,  see  Whitman's  Dem- 
ocratic Vistas  where  he  holds  that  the  object  of  democracy  is 
not  better  government,  but  a  better  people,  and  that  universal 
suffrage  tends  to  raise  the  level  of  intelligence  and  self- 
respect.  Lowell's  answer,  slightly  different,  follows  in  the 
next  paragraph. 

♦'•  39.  In  volunteer  regiments  at  the  outset  of  the  Civil  War 
the  command  was  often  given  to  him  who  raised  them;  or 
officers,  often  with  no  or  insufficient  training,  were  elected. 
The  system  was  a  poor  one. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        -55 

IPago 

42.  40.  Piccadilly,  the  thoroughfare  for  the  promenades  of  the 
elegant  and  fashionable  in  London,  so  called  from  the  picca- 
dill,  a  small  stiff  collar,  affected  by  the  gallants  of  the  time  of 
James  I. 

41.  George  Hudson,  1800-1871,  one  of  the  first  "promoters" 
of  English  railways.  Eisen  to  a  position  of  undeserved  wealth 
and  prominence,  he  was  ruined  by  the  discovery  of  frauds  in 
hia  procedure.  The  English  public  turned  on  him;  Carlyle  fre- 
quently held  him  up  to  scorn  and  called  him  "the  big  swollen 
gambler."  See  Latter  Day  Pamphlets.  The  project  to  erect 
a  statue  to  him,  never  carried  through,  called  forth  Carlyle 'a 
fiercest  denunciations. 

42.  Napoleon  III,  1808-1873.  Elected  president  of  France 
in  1848  he  made  himself  emperor  in  1852,  and  retained  this 
title  until  captured  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  for  the 
unfortunate  outcome  of  which  his  lack  of  political  foresight 
was  largely  responsible.  He  was  a  man  of  more  ambition  than 
character. 

44.  43.  This  phrase  is  still  used  by  French  radicals  and  social- 
ists. See  also  Lincoln's  speech  at  New  Haven  in  Introduction 
to  Lincoln,  page  247. 

44.  The  English  have  no  written  constitution. 

45.  45.  Robert  Lowe,  Viscount  Sherbrooke,  1811-1892,  was  a 
British  liberal  statesman  and  at  one  time  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer.  He  is  perhaps  best  known  for  his  brilliant  speeches. 
Though  the  phrase  quoted  has  always  been  credited  to  Lowe, 
what  he  really  said  in  the  famous  address  in  Edinburgh  in 
1867  was  that  it  is  necessary  "to  induce  our  masters  to  learn 
their  letters." 

46.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Lowell  is  speaking  of 
the  socialism  of  an  earlier  day  and  that  his  idea  is  imperfect. 
Modern  socialism  does  not  insist  on  equalizing  all  fortunes  or 
incomes.  Advanced  socialists  today  claim  that  they  are  work- 
ing to  overthrow  the  capitalistic  regime  and  create  a  '  *  coop- 
erative commonwealth"  in  which  the  state  is  employer  and  in 
which  unnecessary  competition  is  eliminated.  Communism,  men- 
tioned later  (p.  46),  would  have  all  property  held  in  common. 


256  Democracy   Today 

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47.  Henry  George,  1839-1897,  author  of  Progress  and  Pov- 
erty, in  which  he  advocated  the  theory  of  taxing  land  exclus- 
ively. George  did  not  wish  land  to  be  "divided"  primarily, 
but  to  destroy  private  property  in  land,  which  he  held  should 
no  more  exist  than  private  property  in  light  or  air.  Under 
bis  system  each  user  of  property  would  pay  to  the  government 
a  tax  on  his  land.  This  land  tax  or  "single  tax"  would  be 
sufficient  to  cover  all  governmental  expenses. 
46-  48.  Compare  this  with  Balzac's  statement  in  The  Country 
Doctor :  ' '  There  is  something  in  the  nature  of  power  which 
makes  it  tend  to  conserve  itself. ' ' 

Stephen  Grover  Cleveland  (1837-1908) 
Stephen  Grover  Cleveland  was  President  of  the  United  States 
1885-1889  and  1893-1897.  By  the  death  of  his  father  he  was 
forced  as  a  lad  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world  without 
the  benefit  of  a  college  education.  A  man  of  simple  habits, 
he  never  sought  to  attract  attention.  The  quality  of  forceful 
leadership  which  he  possessed  and  ever  exercised  in  the  interest 
of  good  citizenship  forced  him  upon  the  attention  of  the 
country  and  brought  him  to  the  Presidency. 

His  career  as  President  was  marked  by  independence  in 
forming  his  judgments  and  intrepidity  in  the  execution  of 
judgments  once  formed.  He  never  sought  favor  and  had  the 
high  courage  to  follow  the  unpopular  course.  Time  justified 
him  and  has  proved  the  wisdom  of  his  decisions. 

The  address  delivered  before  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chi- 
cago has  as  its  subject  Patriotism  and  Holiday  Observance. 
The  introductory  paragraphs  deal  with  the  observance  of  holi- 
days general  and  have  no  immediate  bearing  on  our  subject, 
and  are  the.  ore  omitted.  The  second  and  larger  part  of  the 
speech,  dea.  .g  with  Washington  and  Patriotism,  is  given 
without  change. 

The  Message  op  Washington 
49.      1.  Washington  served  during  the  seven  years  of  the  Eevolu- 
tion  with  no  expectation  or  hope  of   compensation.     He  was 
later   reimbursed    only    for    the    expenditures   which    as    com- 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        257 

Page 

mander-in-chief  he  had  made  out  of  his  private  purse.  He 
loved  his  home  but  in  this  long  period  could  visit  it  but  twice. 
Fond  of  retirement  as  he  was,  he  prepared  his  Farewell  Address 
at  the  end  of  his  first  term  (1793)  and  was  prevailed  upon  to 
accept  a  second  only  because  of  the  very  threatening  condition 
of  our  relations  with  France  and  England.  Yet  after  his 
retirement  when  war  seemed  imminent  with  France  he  again,  in 
1798,  accepted  the  heavy  responsibility  of  commander-in-chief 
of  the  provisional  army  that  was  being  raised. 

51.  2.  From  Othello,  Act  V,  scene  2. 

52.  3.  The  letter  was  written  at  Mount  Vernon  January  29,  1789. 
In  the  same  letter  he  says,  in  reply  to  Lafayette's  congratula- 
tions on  his  election,  "1  shall  assume  the  task  with  the  most 
unfeigned  reluctance,  and  with  a  real  diffidence." 

Theodore  Roosevelt  (1858-  — ) 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  born  1858,  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
University  in  1880.  Distinguished  sportsman,  soldier,  and  man- 
of -letters,  he  was  twenty-sixth  President  of  the  United  States, 
1901-1909.  His  earlier  policy  was  an  advocacy  of  the  "Square 
Deal"  between  capital  and  labor  with  hands  off  except  in  case 
of  unfairness  on  the  part  of  either  contestant.  His  later  policy 
has  been  strongly  for  legislation  in  the  interest  of  the  wage- 
earner  and  the  economically  unfortunate.  He  was  leader  of 
the  Progressive  Party  1912.  He  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  uni- 
versal military  training  and  is  recognized  abroad  as  the  type 
of  American  man  of  action. 

WooDEOw  Wilson  (1856 ) 

Woodrow  Wilson,  born  in  Virginia  in  1856,  is  the  twenty- 
eighth  President  of  the  United  States.  After  graduation  from 
Princeton  University,  he  studied  and  practiced  law,  then  turned 
to  teaching.  After  serving  eight  years  as  President  of  Prince- 
ton University,  he  was  elected  Governor  of  New  Jersey  1911, 
and  President  of  the  United  States  1913.  The  leader  of  the 
nation  in  the  third  great  crisis  in  its  history,  he  has  won  the 
confidence  of  the  people  by  his  patience,  earnestness,  and  high 
sense  of  our  national  destiny.    One  of  the  greatest  masters  of 


258.  Democracy   Today 

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style  in  our  time,  his  addresses  are  regarded  both  here  and  in 
Europe,  as  among  the  most  important  documents  in  the  history 
of  the  world  war.  The  earlier  addresses  given  in  this  volume 
deal  with  problems  of  citizenship,  patriotism,  and  democracy. 
The  later  ones  are  landmarks  in  our  struggle  against  Germany 
and  autocracy. 

The  Meaning  op  the  Declaeation  of  Independence 

63.  1.  John  Hancock  of  Massachusetts  (1737-1793)  was  chosen 
president  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1775  and  his  name 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration. 

64.  2.  On  the  10th  of  June,  1776,  a  committee  of  five  was 
appointed  to  draw  up  the  Declaration.  It  consisted  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman, 
and  Robert  R.  Livingston.  This  committee  assigned  the  com- 
position to  Jefferson.  The  draft  which  he  brought  in ,  was 
modified  by  omitting  certain  passages  and  articles  which  it 
was  thought  might  weaken  the  force  of  the  Colonies'  case. 
The  phraseology  is  very  largely  Jefferson's. 

65.  3.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  Europe  and  for  some 
time  thereafter,  there  was  a  financial  depression  in  the  country, 
of  which  the  President's  opponents  took  advantage  in  order  to 
criticize  the  legislative  program  which  he  was  carrying  into 
execution. 

66.  4.  The  banking  and  currency  law,  known  as  the  Federal 
Reserve  Act,  was  approved  after  much  opposition  and  discus- 
sion, December  23,  1913.  It  was  a  constructive  measure  based 
on  the  work  of  financiers,  bankers,  statesmen,  and  economists. 
Under  it  the  United  States  is  divided  into  twelve  districts,  each 
with  a  Reser\'e  Bank  which  is  the  center  of  the  banking  system 
of  that  district.  In  operation  it  has  proved  itself  successful 
and  a  decided  advance  upon  its  predecessor,  the  National  Bank- 
ing System. 

69-  5.  At  this  time  the  President  was  being  severely  criticized  for 
his  refusal  to  declare  war  or  intervene  in  Mexico  to  protect 
the  property  rights  of  American  citizens. 

71.  6.  The  Panama  Canal  Act  of  1912,  providing  for  the  perma- 
nent government  of  the  Canal  Zone  and  other  regulations,  was 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        259 

Page 

amended  in  a  bill  signed  by  the  President  June  15,  1914,  known 
as  the  "Panama  Tolls  Exemption  Repeal  Bill."  In  this  bUl 
the  clause  which  exempted  American  coastwise  vessels  from 
paying  tolls  was  repealed  because  it  was  in  contravention  of 
the  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.  The  repeal  of 
the  Tolls  Exemption  for  American  coastwise  vessels  gave  the 
same  advantages  to  English  and  foreign  vessels  that  our  own 
possessed.  It  meant  sacrificing  undoubted  economic  advantages 
in  the  interest  of  maintaining  good  faith. 

America  First 

85.  1.  This  paragraph,  and  indeed  this  whole  address,  illustrates 
President  Wilson's  attitude  in  the  early  pei^od  of  the  war.  He 
felt  at  that  time  that  America  was  out  of  and  above  the  con- 
flict. The  reasons  for  the  change  will  be  plain  after  reading 
the  War  Message,  April  2nd,  1917,  page  126,  and  the  Flag  Day 
Address,  June  14,  1917,  page  141,  with  their  notes. 

88.  2.  Woman  Suffrage  was  voted  upon  and  defeated  in  New 
Jersey  October  19,  1915. 

The  School  of  Citizenship 
84.      1.  How  serious  this  movement  was,  and  how  it  was  started 
and  fomented  by  agents  of   the   German  government  will  be 
plainer  after  reading  the  Flag  Day  Address,  June  14,  1917,  and 
the  notes  to  its  opening  paragraphs. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

100.      1.  Hamlet,  Act  III.  scene  4. 

A  World  League  for  Peace 

•02.  1,  This  address,  which  attracted  much  attention  throughout 
the  world,  marks  the  culmination  of  President  Wilson's  earlier 
policy  and  of  his  efforts  to  establish  peace  between  the  belliger- 
ents without  direct  intervention.  Even  at  the  time  of  its  deliv- 
ery, Germany,  unknown  to  the  President,  was  planning  acts  of 
aggression  against  the  United  States  (see  the  Zimmermann 
Note,  War  Message,  note  22).  Her  failure  to  make  any  satis- 
factory reply  to  the  President's  Note  of  December  18th,  in 
which   he   asked   the  belligerents   to   state   their   peace   terms, 


260  Democracy   Today 

Page 

showed  only  too  plainly  that  her  rulers  were  more  interested 
in  carrying  out  their  plans  for  the  extension  of  German 
dominion  and  the  creation  of  Mittel-Europa  (see  Flag  Bay 
Address,  notes  12-16)  than  they  were  in  the  establishment  of  any 
permanent  peace  based  upon  principles  of  right  and  justice. 
This  address  was  directed  not  to  the  belligerents  but  to  the 
American  people,  and  its  main  interest  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
presents  the  program  for  peace  which  the  President  was  then 
willing  to  sanction.  Its  main  thesis  lies  in  its  insistence  that 
the  time  for  a  new  "balance  of  power"  (see  Note  3)  is  past 
and  that  the  peace  to  which  we  now  aspire  must  be  based  upon 
a  concert  of  the  powers  acting  to  guarantee  liberty  and  justice 
and  ready  to  check  and  curb  any  outlaw  nation.  The  many 
Declarations  of  War  upon  Germany  which  followed  upon  her 
promulgation  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare  seem  to  fore- 
shadow the  formation  of  such  a  concert  of  powers. 

'05-      2.  See  Flag  Bay  Address. 

106.  3.  "Balance  of  power"  is  an  old  phrase  in  political  history 
and  international  law.  The  idea  goes  back  to  the  ancients 
and  is  in  principle  as  follows:  No  nation  or  group  of  nations 
must  be  allowed  to  become  so  strong  as  to  be  able  to  enforce 
their  will  upon  the  others.  In  order  to  prevent  this,  members 
of  the  family  of  nations  are  justified  in  combining  against 
•another  nation  or  group  of  nations.  This  idea  of  reestablish- 
ing the  "balance  of  power"  lay  behind  the  formation  of  many 
of  the  coalitions  in  modern  history, — those  for  instance  against 
Louis  XIV.  and  Napoleon.  The  theory  was  complicated  in  the 
last  hundred  years  by  wars  waged  to  establish  national 
independence.  In  the  later  period  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  theory  was  illustrated  in  the  attempted  balance  between  the 
Dual  Alliance  of  France  and  Eussia  and  the  Triple  Alliance 
of  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy. 

4.  It  is  plain  from  the  War  Message  that  the  President 
makes  a  distinction  between  the  German  people  and  their  rulers. 
It  is  no  less  plain  from  the  Flag  Bay  Address  that  he  now  feels 
that  the  present  rulers  of  Germany,  her  military  caste,  her 
policy  of  inhumanity,  and  her  plans  of  conquest  must  be 
defeated. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        261 

Page 

•07.  5.  The  principles  set  forth  in  this  and  the  following  para- 
graphs are  wholly  at  variance  with  the  desires  and  purposes 
of  Germany  as  they  have  become  plain  at  the  end  of  1917. 
Her  contempt  for  the  rights  of  small  nations  is  only  too  evident 
in  her  treatment  of  Belgium  and  in  her  plans  with  respect  to 
the  smaller  states  of  Europe  as  revealed  in  the  Flag  Day 
Address  and  its  notes. 

6.  The  German  autocracy  has  never  been  willing  to  recognize 
this  principle,  of  government  by  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
Prussia  and  the  German  Empire  themselves  are  not  governed 
in  this  way.  (See  Flag  Day  Address,  Note  7.)  Only  a  few 
years  before  the  war  the  present  Emperor  threatened  to  make 
Alsace-Lorraine,  which  is  still  governed  like  a  conquered  pro- 
vince, ' '  a  Prussian  province, ' '  The  Poles,  who  have  been  under 
German  rule  for  over  a  century  and  a  quarter,  are  still  discrimi- 
nated against;  and  it  is  unthinkable  that  in  her  present  temper 
Germany  would  willingly  found  a  really  autonomous  Poland 
as  suggested  in  the  next  paragraph.  (See  Flag  Day  Address, 
Note  18.)  Carrying  the  principles  here  stated  by  Wilson  into 
effect  would  mean  not  only  the  complete  nullification  of 
Germany's  plans  in  the  war,  but  a  reversal  of  her  fundamental 
idea  of  social  and  national  organization. 

109.  7,  Germany,  the  originator  of  submarine  warfare  on  neutrals, 
has  claimed  that  she  is  fighting  ' '  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas. ' ' 
With  no  color  of  right  she  has  already  sunk,  to  mention  but 
one  neutral,  over  six  hundred  Norwegian  vessels,  and  her  policy 
has  brought  forth  from  many  previously  friendly  nations  dec- 
larations of  war  against  her.  (See  War  Message,  Note  9.) 
The  German  conception  of  freedom  of  the  seas  was  clearly 
exhibited  in  her  note  to  us  of  February  1st,  1917.  (Quoted 
in  Flag  Day  Address,  Note  4.) 

'"•  8.  The  Monroe  Doctrine,  proclaimed  in  1823,  insisted  that 
no  foreign  power  should  colonize  further  or  attempt  ' '  to  extend 
the  European  system"  to  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

"2-  9.  How  useless  it  was  to  propose  peace  to  Germany  on  these 
terms  will  be  only  too  evident  when  we  read  President  Wilson's 
message  to  Congress,  delivered  less  than  two  weeks  later,  sever- 
ing relations  with  Germany  for  the  reasons  there  givep. 


262  Democracy   Today 

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Wak  Message 

All  the  following  notes  on  the  War  Message  are  taken  by  special 
perynission  from  the  text  of  the  President's  Message  officially 
annotated  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Information.    See  page  15. 

126.      1.  President  Wilson  had  the  sworn  duty  to  lay   the  facts 

before  Congress  and  recommend  to  it  the  needful  action.     The 

Constitution  prescribe  his  duties  in  such  emergencies. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Constitution  lays  the  duty 
and  power  of  declaring  war  directly  upon  Congress,  and  that 
it  can  not  be  evaded  by  Congressmen  by  any  referendum  to 
the  voters,  for  which  not  the  slightest  constitutional  provision 
is  made. 

Congress  performed  this  duty  by  voting  on  the  war  question, 
as  requested.  The  vote  of  the  Senate  was  82  to  6  for  war;  of 
the  House  373  to  50.  Such  comparative  unanimity  upon  so 
momentous  a  question  is  almost  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
free  nations. 

2.  The  German  Chancellor  in  announcing  this  repudiation  of 
all  his  solemn  pledges  in  the  Imperial  Parliament  (Keichstag), 
on  January  31,  frankly  admitted  that  this  policy  involved 
* '  ruthlessness ' '  toward  neutrals.  ' '  When  the  most  ruthless 
methods  are  considered  the  best  calculated  to  lead  us  to  victory 
and  to  a  swift  victory   .   .   .  they  must  be  employed.   .   .   . 

3.  The  broken  Sussex  pledge.  On  May  4,  1916,  the  German 
government,  in  reply  to  the  protest  and  warning  of  the  United 
States  following  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex,  gave  this  promise: 
That  "merchant  vessels  both  within  and  without  the  area 
declared  a  naval  war  zone  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning, 
and  without  saving  human  lives,  unless  the  ship  attempt  to 
escape  or  offer  resistance." 

Germany  added,  indeed,  that  if  Great  Britain  continued  her 
blockade  policy,  she  would  have  to  consider  ' '  a  new  situation. ' ' 

On  May  8,  1916,  the  United  States  replied  that  it  could  not 
admit  that  the  pledge  of  Germany  was  ' '  in  the  slightest  degree 
contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Government ' '  (t.  e., 
on  any  question  of  the  English  blockade).  To  this  Germany 
made  no  reply  at  all,  and  under  general  diplomatic  usage,  when 
one  nation  makes  a  srtatement  to  another,  the  latest  statement 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        263 

Page 

of  the  case  stands  as  final  unless  there  is  a  protest  made.  The 
promise  made  by  Germany  thus  became  a  binding  pledge. 
•?7.  4.  As  to  the  proper  usages  in  dealing  with  merchant  vessels 
in  war,  here  are  the  rules  laid  down  some  time  ago  for  the 
American  Navy  (a  fighting  navy,  surely),  and  these  rules  hardly 
differed  in  other  navies,  including  the  Kussian  and  Japanese : 

"The  personnel  of  a  merchant  vessel  captured  as  a  prize 
.   .  .  are  entitled  to  their  personal  effects. 

"All  passengers  not  in  the  service  of  the  enemy,  and  all 
women  and  children  on  board  such  vessels  should  be  released 
and  landed  at  a  convenient  port  at  the  first  opportunity. 

"Any  person  in  the  naval  service  of  the  United  States  who 
pillages  or  maltreats  in  any  manner,  any  person  found  on  board 
a  merchant  vessel  captured  as  a  prize,  shall  be  severely  pun- 
ished. ' ' 

"The  destruction  of  a  vessel  which  has  surrendered  without 
first  removing  its  ofl&eers  and  crew  would  be  an  act  contrary 
to  the  sense  of  right  which  prevails  even  between  enemies 
in  time  of  war. ' ' 

5.  The  British  hospital  ships  Asturias  sunk  March  20,  and  the 
Gloucester  Castle.  These  vessels  had  been  sunk  although  pro- 
tected by  the  most  solemn  possible  of  international  compacts. 
Somewhat  earlier  in  the  war  the  great  liner  Britannic  had  been 
sunk  while  in  service  as  a  hospital  ship,  probably  torpedoed  by 
a  U-boat.  Since  this  message  was  written  the  Germans  have 
continued  their  policy  of  murdering  more  wounded  soldiers 
and  their  nurses  by  sinking  more  hospital  ships. 

The  Belgian  relief  ships  referred  to  were  probably  the 
Camilla,  Trevier,  and  the  Feistein,  but  most  particularly  the 
large  Norwegian  steamer  Storstad,  sunk  with  10,000  tons  of 
grain  for  the  starving  Belgians. 
128.  6.  Mr.  Wilson  could  have  gone  further  back  than  "modern 
history. ' ' 

Even  in  the  most  troubled  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  there 
was  consistent  effort  to  spare  the  lives  of  nonbelligerents.  Thus 
in  the  eleventh  century  not  merely  did  the  church  enjoin  the 
' '  truce  of  God' '  which  ordered  all  warfare  to  cease  on  four  days 


264  Democracy  Today 

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of  the  week,  but  it  especially  pronounced  its  curse  upon  those 
Tvho  outraged  or  injured  not  merely  clergymen  and  monks,  but 
all  classes  of  women.  We  also  have  ordinances  from  this  ' '  dark 
period"  of  history  forbidding  the  interference  with  shepherds 
and  their  flocks,  the  damaging  of  olive  trees,  or  the  carrying 
off  or  destruction  of  farming  implements.  All  this  at  a  period 
when  feudal  barons  are  alleged  to  have  been  waging  their  wars 
with  unusual  ferocity. 

7.  The  following  American  vessels  were  sunk  by  submarines 
after  Germany's  decree  of  ruthless  submarine  policy,  January 
31.  1917: 

February  3,  1917,  Housatonic ;  February  13,  1917,  Lyman  M. 
Law;  'March  2,  1917,  Algonquin;  March  16,  1917,  Vigilancia; 
March  17,  1917,  City  of  Memphis;  March  17,  1917,  Illinois; 
March  21,  1917,  Eealdton  (claimed  to  have  been  sunk  off  Dutch 
coast,  and  far  from  the  so-called  "prohibited  zone") ;  April  1, 
1917,  Aztec. 

8.  In  all,  up  to  the  declaration  of  war  by  us,  226  American 
citizens,  many  of  them  women  and  children,  had  lost  their  lives 
by  the  action  of  German  submarines,  and  in  most  instances 
without  the  faintest  color  of  international  right.  The  most 
flagrant  and  horrible  ease  was  that  of  the  Lusitania,  sunk  May 
7,  1915,  with  loss  of  114  American  lives. 

9.  Practically  all  the  civilized  neutral  countries  of  the  earth 
have  protested  at  the  German  policy. 

•30.  10.  Eight  of  American  citizens  to  protection  in  their  doings 
abroad  and  on  the  seas  no  less  than  at  home.  Decided  by 
Supreme  Court  of  United  States.  (Slaughter  House  Cases,  16 
Wall.,  36.) 

"Every  citizen  .  .  .  may  demand  the  care  and  protection  of 
the  United  States  when  on  the  high  seas  or  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  a  foreign  Government." 

See  Cooley's  Principles  of  Constitutional  Law,  tMrd  edition, 
page  273  (standard  authority). 

Obviously  a  Government  which  can  not  or  will  not  protect 
its  citizens  against  a  policy  of  lawless  murder  is  unworthy  of 
respect  abroad  or  obedience  at  home.     The  protection  of  the 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        265 

Paee 

lives  of  the  innocent  and  law-abiding  is  clearly  the  very  first 
duty  of  a  civilized  state. 
130.  11.  Wars  do  not  have  to  be  declared  in  order  to  exist.  The 
mere  commission  of  warlike  or  unfriendly  acts  commences  them. 
Thus  the  first  serious  clash  in  the  Mexican  war  took  place  April 
24,  1846.  Congress  "recognized"  the  state  of  war  oniy  on 
May  11  of  that  year.  Already  Gen.  Taylor  had  fought  two 
serious  battles  at  Palo  Alto  an.d  Eesaca  de  la  Palma. 
,  Many  other  like  cases  could  be  cited ;  the  most  recent  was  the 

outbreak  of  the  war  between  Japan  and  Eussia.  In  1904  the 
Japanese  attacked  the  Eussian  fleet  before  Port  Arthur,  and 
only  several  days  after  this  battle  was  war  ' '  recognized. ' ' 

If  the  acts  of  Germany  were  unfriendly,  war  in  the  strictest 
sense  existed  when  the  President  addressed  Congress. 
'32.  12.  So  obvious  is  the  military  necessity  of  giving  every  pos- 
sible help  to  the  present  enemies  of  Oermany  that  those  who  try 
to  thwart  this  are  almost  open  to  the  very  grave  criminal  charge 
of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States. 
133.  13.  Contrast  these  fwo  standards:  Bethmann-Hollweg  ad- 
dressing the  Eeichstag,  August  4,  1914 : 

**We  are  now  in  a  state  of  necessity,  and  necessity  knows  no 
law.  Our  troops  have  occupied  (neutral)  Luxemburg  and  per- 
haps already  have  entered  Belgium  territory.  Gentlemen,  this 
is  a  breach  of  international  law.  The  wrong — I  speak  openly — 
the  wrong  we  hereby  commit  we  will  try  to  make  good  as  soon 
as  our  military  aims  have  been  attained. 

* '  He  who  is  menaced  as  we  are,  and  is  fighting  for  his  highest 
possession,  can  only  consider  how  he  is  to  hack  his  way 
through. ' ' 

Or  Frederick  the  Great  again,  the  arch  prophet  of  Prussian- 
ism,  speaking  in  1740  and  giving  the  keynote  to  all  his  suc- 
cessors, "The  question  of  right  is  an  affair  of  ministers.  .  .  . 
It  is  time  to  consider  it  in  secret,  for  the  orders  to  my  troops 
have  been  given,"  and  still,  again,  "Take  what  you  can;  you 
are  never  wrong  unless  you  are  obliged  to  give  back."  (Per- 
kins, France  under  Louis  XV,  volume  1,  pages  169-170.) 

Against  this  set  the  words  of  the  first  President  of  the  Young 
American  Eepublic,  speaking  at  a  time  when  the  Nation  was  so 


266  Democracy   Today 

Page 

weak  that  surely  any  kind  of  shifts  could  have  been  justified 
on  the  score  of  necessity. 
'33.    Said    George    Washington    in    his    first    inaugural    address 
(1789) : 

"...  the  foundation  of  our  national  policy  will  be  laid  in 
the  pure  and  immutable  principles  of  private  morality,  and  the 
preeminence  of  free  government  be  exemplified  by  all  the  attri- 
butes which  can  win  the  affections  of  its  citizens  and  command 
the  respect  of  the  world.  I  dwell  on  this  prospect  with  every 
satisfaction  which  an  ardent  love  for  my  country  can  inspire, 
since  there  is  no  truth  more  thoroughly  established  than  that 
there  exists  in  the  economy  and  course  of  nature  an  indissoluble 
union  between  virtue  and  happiness;  between  duty  and  advan- 
tage; between  the  genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnani- 
mous policy  and  the  solid  rewards  of  public  prosperity  and 
felicity;  since  we  ought  to  be  no  less  persuaded  that  the  pro- 
pitious smiles  of  Heaven  can  never  be  expected  on  a  nation  that 
disregards  the  eternal  rules  of  order  and  right  which  Heaven 
itself  has  ordained ;  and  since  the  preservation  of  the  sacred  fire 
of  liberty  and  the  destiny  of  the  republican  model  of  govern- 
ment are  justly  considered,  perhaps,  as  deeply,  as  finally,  staked 
on  the  experiment  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the  American 
people. ' ' 

The  present  war  is  for  a  large  part  being  waged  to  settle 
whether  the  American  or  the  Prussian  standard  of  morality  is 
valid. 

The  constitution  of  Prussia  has  remained  practically 
unchanged  and  the  electoral  districts  and  three  class  voting 
system  of  nearly  7Q  years  ago  still  exist.  Liberal  industrial 
and  socialistic  elements  in  the  great  modem  cities  and  manu- 
facturing areas  are  without  adequate  representation  in  the 
Prussian  Diet,  and  the  old  country  districts  are  practically 
"rotten  boroughs"  where  the  peasant  who  votes  by  voice  not 
written  ballot,  is  at  the  mercy  of  his  feudal  noble  landlord.  It 
is  the  latter  who  back  the  throne  and  its  autocratic  power  so 
long  as  the  policy  suits  their  narrow  provincial  militaristic 
views  formed  in  the  days  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  his  des- 
potic father  and  revived  and  glorified  by  Bismarck. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        267 

Page 

133.  14.  When  the  crisis  was  precipitated  late  in  July,  1914,  there 
was  a  strong  peace-party  in  Germany,  and  earnest  protests  were 
made  against  letting  Austrian  aggression  against  Serbia  start  a 
world  conflagration.  In  Berlin  on  July  29,  twenty-eight  mas3 
meetings  were  held  to  denounce  the  proposed  war,  and  one  of 
ithem  is  said  to  have  been  attended  by  70,000  men.  The 
Vorwaerts  (the  great  organ  of  the  socialists)  declared  on  that 
day,  ' '  the  indications  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  camarilla 
of  war  lords  is  working  with  absolutely  unscrupulous  means  to 
carry  out  their  fearful  designs  to  precipitate  an  international 
war  and  to  start  a  world-wide  fire  to  devastate  Europe."  On 
the  31st  this  same  paper  asserted  that  the  policy  of  the  German 
Government  was  ' '  utterly  without  conscience. ' '  Then  came  the 
declaration  of  "war  emergency"  (Kriegsgefahr),  mobiliza- 
tion, martial  law,  and  any  expression  of  public  opinion  was 
stilled  in  Germany, 

15.  The  German  people  had  not  the  slightest  share  in  shaping 
the  events  which  led  up  to  the  declaration  of  war.  The  German 
Emperor  is  clothed  by  the  imperial  constitution  With  practically 
autocratic  power  in  all  matters  of  foreign  policy.  The  Eeichs- 
tag  has  not  even  a  consultative  voice  in  such  matters.  The 
German  constitution  (Article  11)  gives  to  the  Emperor  specific 
power  to  "declare  war,  conclude  peace,  and  enter  into  alli- 
ances." The  provision  that  only  defensive  wars  may  be 
declared  by  the  Emperor  alone  puts  the  power  in  his  hands  to 
declare  this  and  any  other  war  without  consulting  any  but  the 
military  group,  for  no  power  in  modern  times  has  ever  admitted 
that  it  waged  aggressive  warfare.  William  II  declared  this  war 
without  taking  his  people  into  the  slightest  confidence  until  the 
final  deed  was  done. 

As  for  William  II,  speeches  without  number  can  be  cited  to 
fihow  his  sense  of  his  own  autocratic  authority — e.  g.,  speaking 
at  Konigsberg,  in  1910 — "Looking  upon  myself  as  the  instru- 
ment of  the  Lord,  regardless  of  the  views  and  the  opinions  of 
the  hour,  I  go  on  my  way. ' '  And  another  time :  * '  There  is  but 
one  master  in  this  country;  it  is  I,  and  I  will  bear  no  other." 
He  has  also  been  very  fond  of  transforming  an  old  Latin  adage, 
making  it  read :  *  *  The  will  of  the  king  is  the  highest  law. ' ' 


26i)  Democracy   Today 

Page 

16.  President  Wilson  probably  had  in  mind  such  wars  as  those 
of  Louis  XIV,  waged  by  that  King  almost  solely  for  his  own 
glory  and  interest  and  with  extremely  little  heed  to  the  small 
benefit  and  great  suffering  they  brought  to  France.  The  War 
of  the  Spanish  Succession  (begun  in  1701)  was  particularly 
such  a  war.  History,  of  course,  contains  a  great  many  others 
begun  from  no  worthier  motive,  including  several  conducted  by 
Prussia  and  earlier  by  Philip  II  of  Spain. 

134.  17.  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  situation  in  Europe 
in  July,  1914,  was  regarded  by  the  German  "jingo"  party — 
Von  Tirpitz,  Bernhardi,  et  al. — as  peculiarly  favorable.  Eussia 
was  busy  rearming  her  army,  and  her  railway  system  had  not 
yet  been  properly  developed  for  strategic  purposes.  France  was 
vexed  with  labor  troubles,  a  murder  trial  was  heaping  scandal 
upon  one  of  her  most  famous  statesmen,  and  her  army  was 
reported  by  her  own  statesmen  as  sadly  unready.  England 
seemed  on  the  point  of  being  plunged  into  a  civil  war  by  the 
revolt  of  a  large  fraction  of  Ireland. 

Such  a  convenient  crippling  of  all  the  three  great  rivals  of 
Germany  might  never  come  again.  The  murder  of  the  arch- 
duke of  Austria  at  Serajevo  came,  therefore,  as  a  most  con- 
venient occasion  for  a  stroke  which  would  either  result  in  a 
great  increase  of  Teutonic  prestige  or  enable  Germany  to  fight 
with  every  possible  advantage. 

18.  The  great  humanitarian  aims  of  The  Hague  peace  con- 
ferences of  1899  and  1907  were  the  limitation  of  armaments 
and  the  compulsory  arbitration  of  international  disputes. 
-  Unanimity  among  the  world  powers  was  essential  to  the  success 
of  both.  None  dared  disarm  unless  all  would  do  so.  The  great 
democracies.  Great  Britain,  France,  and  the  United  States, 
favored  both  propositions,  but  Germany,  leading  the  opposition, 
prevented  their  adoption.  She  agreed  with  reluctance  to  a  con- 
vention for  optional  arbitration,  but  refused  at  the  second  con- 
ference even  to  discuss  disarmament.  [See  Scott,  James  Brown, 
The  Hague  Peace  Conferences  of  1899  and  1907,  I,  index  ' '  Arm- 
aments" and  "Arbitration."] 

•35.  19.  The  whole  autocratic  regime  has  been  imposed  on  a  people 
whose  instincts  and  institutions  are  fundamentally  democratic. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes       269 

Faee 

TIhe  deposed  Romanoff  dynasty  began  in  an  election  among  the 
nobles.  Peter  the  Great  and  the  more  despotic  of  his  suc- 
cessors created  largely  by  imitation  and  adaptation  of  German 
bureaucracy  the  machinery  with  which  they  ruled.  Underneath 
this  un-Russian  machinery  of  despotism  Russian  communal  and 
local  life  has  preserved  itself  with  wonderful  vitality. 
•35.  20.  Besides  undoubtedly  many  matters  which  from  reasons  of 
public  policy  the  Government  has  still  kept  hidden,  the  House  of 
Representatives  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  when  it  presented 
the  war  resolution  following  the  President's  message,  went  on 
formal  record  as  listing  at  least  twenty-one  crimes  or  unfriendly 
acts  committed  upon  our  soil  with  the  connivance  of  the  German 
Government  since  the  European  war  began.    Among  these  were : 

Inciting  Hindoos  within  the  United  States  to  stir  up  revolts 
in  India,  and  supplying  them  with  funds  for  that  end,  contrary 
to  our  neutrality  laws. 

Running  a  fraudulent  passport  office  for  German  reservists. 
This  was  supervised  by  Capt.  von  Papen  of  the  German 
Embassy. 

Sending  German  agents  to  England  to  act  as  spies,  equipped 
•with  American  passports. 

Outfitting  steamers  to  supply  German  raiders,  and  sending 
them  out  of  American  ports  in  defiance  of  our  laws. 

Sending  an  agent  from  the  United  States  to  try  to  blow  up 
the  International  Bridge  at  Vanceboro,  Me. 

Furnishing  funds  to  agents  to  blow  up  factories  in  Canada. 

Five  different  conspiracies,  some  partly  successful,  to  manu- 
facture and  place  bombs  on  ships  leaving  United  States  ports. 
For  these  crimes  a  number  of  persons  have  been  convicted ;  also 
Consul-<5eneral  Bopp,  of  San  Francisco  (a  very  high  German 
official  accredited  to  the  United  States  Government),  has  been 
convicted  of  plotting  to  cause  bridges  and  tunnels  to  be 
destroyed  in  Canada. 

Financing  newspapers  in  this  country  to  conduct  a  propa- 
ganda serviceable  to  the  ends  of  the  German  Government. 

Stirring  up  anti- American  sentiment  in  Mexico  and  disorders 
generally  in  that  country,  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  United 
States  to  mix  in  European  affairs. 


270  Democracy   Today 

Page 

German  military  usage  has  been  quite  in  this  spirit,  however, 
and  approves  of  such  doings.  (See  German  War  Code,  standard 
translation,  page  85.) 

"Bribery  of  enemies'  subjects,  acceptance  of  offers  of  treach- 
ery, utilization  of  discontented  elements  in  the  population,  sup- 
port of  pretenders  and  the  like,  are  permissible;  indeed, 
international  law  is  in  no  way  opposed  to  the  exploitation  of 
crimes  of  third  parties." 
'36-  21.  A  Prussianized  Germany,  triumphant  in  Europe  and  domi- 
nant on  the  seaS;  would  find  its  occasion  to  strike  down  America 
in  its  isolation  and  make  of  us  the  over-seas  tributary  of  a  new 
Eoman  Empire.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the  future  of 
democracy  and  of  independent  national  life  is  hanging  in  the 
balance  in  this  struggle. 

22.  The  famous  ' '  Zimmermann  note, ' '  exposed  by  our  Gov- 
ernment March  I,  is  a  document  that  should  stick  in  the  memo- 
ries of  all  Americans.  Remember,  it  was  composed  on  January 
19,  1917,  at  a  time  when  Germany  and  America  were  officially 
very  good  friends,  and  the  date  was  just  three  days  before  Mr. 
"Wilson  appeared  in  the  Senate  with  his  scheme  for  a  league  to 
assure  peace  and  justice  to  the  world. 

Zimmermann  admitted  the  authenticity  of  the  note,  and  only 
deplored  that  it  had  been  discovered.  The  significant  parts  were 
these : 

"Berlin,  January  19,  1917. 

"On  February  1  we  intend  to  begin  submarine  warfare 
unrestricted.  In  spite  of  this,  it  is  our  intention  to  keep  neutral 
the  United  States  of  America. 

"If  this  attempt  is  not  successful,  we  propose  an  alliance  on 
the  following  basis  with  Mexico:  That  we  shall  make  war 
together  and  together  make  peace.  We  shall  give  general  finan- 
cial support,  and  it  is  understood  that  Mexico  is  to  reconquer 
•the  lost  territory  in  New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Arizona.  The 
details  are  left  to  you  for  settlement." 

The  whole  dispatch  was  so  gross  a  revelation  of  interna- 
tional immorality  that  German-American  papers  immediately 
denounced  it  as  a  forgery,  only  to  have  its  genuineness  brazenly 
acknowledged  and  defended  by  Berlin. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes       271 

Page 

23.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  although  nearly  all  the  nations 
opposed  to  Germany  concluded  the  so-called  * '  cooling  off ' '  arbi- 
tration treaties  with  the  United  States,  negotiated  by  Mr. 
Bryan,  Germany,  although  indulging  in  certain  meaningless 
talk  about  "approving  of  the  principle"  of  arbitration, 
declined  to  join  in  the  compacts. 

There  was  no  arbitration  treaty  that  could  be  invoked  when 
trouble  arose  with  Germany. 
137.     24.  "Pair  play"  has  a  small  part  in  the  Prussian  military 
usage,  however.    (See  German  War  Code,  authorized  translatioil^ 
pages  1-3  and  52.)     J.  Murray,  London,  1915. 

"A  war  conducted  with  energy  can  not  be  directed  merely 
against  the  combatants  of  the  enemy  State  and  the  positions 
they  occupy,  but  wUl  and  must  in  like  manner  seek  to  destroy 
the  total  intellectual  and  material  resources  of  the  latter. 
Humanitarian  claims,  such  as  the  protection  of  men  and  their 
goods,  can  only  be  taken  iato  consideration  in  so  far  as  the 
nature  and  object  of  the  war  permit." 

See  also  Clausewitz  (the  Prussian  military  authority  and  oft- 
quoted  oracle).  Treatise  "On  War"  (Vom  Eriege)  V:  Kap. 
14  (3). 

Speaking  of  the  desirability  of  crushing  down  an  hostile 
country  by  requisitions,  etc.,  he  commends  it  because  of  "the 
fear  of  responsibility,  punishment,  and  ill-treatment,  which  in 
such  cases  presses  on  the  whole  population  like  a  general 
weight."  This  recourse  (of  requisitions)  has  "no  limits  except 
those  of  the  exhaustion,  impoverishment,  and  devastation  of  the 
country. ' ' 

25.  Austria  had  a  serious  clash  with  the  United  States  in  the 
Ancona  case  late  in  1915,  when  Americans  perished,  thanks  to 
the  ruthless  action  of  an  Austrian  submarine.  In  reply  to 
American  protests  Austria  promised  to  order  her  commanders  to 
behave  with  humanity,  and  (compared,  at  least,  to  her  German 
allies)  ^e  kept  her  word  with  reasonable  exactness. 

On  April  8,  1917,  however,  Austria,  probably  acting  under 
German  pressure,  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  with  the  United 
States  without  waiting  for  action  by  our  Government,  and  the 


272  Democracy   Today 

Page 

same   was    done   a   little   later    by    Germany's   other    obedient 
vassal,  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 

'38.  26.  No  one  can  accuse  Mr.  Wilson  of  the  least  precipitancy  in 
bringing  matters  to  an  issue.  Of  course,  on  the  contrary,  his 
persistent  attempts  to  bring  the  German  Government  to  recog- 
nize the  claims  of  reason  and  humanity  have  caused  him  to  be 
bitterly  criticized.  Despite  this  criticism  he  has  patiently  and 
steadily  held  to  the  policy  announced  a  year  ago,  ' '  to  wait  until 
facts  became  unmistakable  and  were  susceptible  of  only  one 
interpretation."     (Sussex  note,  April  18,  1916.) 

Here  is  a  partial  list  of  the  stages  in  the  U-boat  campaign : 

(1)  December  24,  1914.  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  throws  out 
hints  in  a  newspaper  interview  of  a  wholesale  torpedoing  policy. 
He  directly  asks,  "What  wUl  America  say?"  This  was 
considerably  before  the  so-caUed  English  blockade  was  causing 
Germany  any  serious  food  problem. 

(2)  February  4,  1915.  German  Government  proclaims  a  war 
zone  within  which  any  ship  may  be  sunk  unwarned. 

(3)  February  10,  1915.  Mr.  Wilson  tells  German  Govern- 
ment it  will  be  held  to  ' '  strict  accountability ' '  if  any  American 
rights  are  violated  in  this  way. 

(4)  May  1,  (dated  April  22),  1915.  German  Embassy  pub- 
lishes in  Xew  York  morning  papers  warning  against  taking 
passage  on  ships  which  our  Government  had  told  the  people 
they  had  a  perfect  right  to  take. 

The  Lusitania  sailed  at  12:20  noon,  May  1. 

(5)  Mav  7,  1915.     Sinking  of  Lusitania. 

(6)  May  13,  1915.     Mr.  Wilson's  "first  Lusitania"  note. 

(7)  May  28,  1915.  Germany's  reply  defending  the  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania. 

(8)  June  9,  1915.    Mr.  Wilson's  "second  LMsitanm"  note. 

(9)  July  21,  1915.  Mr.  Wilson's  "third  Lusitania"  note 
(following  more  unsatisfactory  German  rejoinders.) 

(10)  August  19,  1915.  Sinking  of  the  Arabic,  whereupon  von 
Bernstorff  gave  an  oral  pledge  for  his  Government  that  here- 
after German  submarines  would  not  sink  "liners"  without 
warning. 

(11)  February,  1916.  (After  still  more  debatable  sinkings) 
Germany  makes  proposals  looking  toward  ' '  assuming  liability ' ' 
for  the  Lusitania  victims,  but  the  whole  case  is  soon  complicated 
again  by  the  ' '  armed  ship ' '  issue. 

(12)  March  24,  1916.  Sinking  of  the  Sussex  passenger 
vessel  with  Americans  od  board. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        273 

fage 

(13)  April  10,  1916.  Germany  cynically  tells  United  States 
she  can  not  be  sure  whether  she  sunk  the  Sussex  or  not, 
although  admitting  one  of  her  submarines  was  active  close  to 
the  place  of  disaster. 

(14)  April  18,  1916.  President  Wilson  threatens  Germany 
with  breach  of  diplomatic  relations  if  Sussex  and  similar  inci- 
dents are  repeated. 

(15)  May  4,  1916.  Germany  grudgingly  makes  the  promise 
that  ships  will  not  be  sunk  without  warning. 

(16)  October  8,  1916.  German  submarine  appears  off  Ameri- 
can coast  and  sinks  British  passenger  steamer  Stephana  with 
many  American  passengers  (vacationists  returning  from  New- 
foundland) on  board.  Loss  of  life  almost  certain  had  not 
American  men-of-war  been  on  hand  to  pick  up  the  refugees. 

[From  this  time  until  final  break  several  other  vessels  sunk 
under  circumstances  which  made  it  at  least  doubtful  whether 
Germany  was  living  up  to  her  pledges.] 

(17)  January  31,  1917.  Germany  tears  up  her  promises  and 
notifies  Mr.  Wilson  she  will  begin  ' '  unrestricted  submarine 
war. ' ' 

(18)  February  3,  1917.  Mr,  Wilson  gives  Count  Bernstorff 
his  passports  and  recalls  Ambassador  Gerard  from  Berlin. 

In  all  modern  history  it  may  be  doubted  if  there  is  another 
chapter  displaying  such  prolonged  patience,  forbearance,  and 
eonciliatoriness  as  that  shown  by  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Lansing 
in  the  face  of  a  long  course  of  deliberate  evasion  and  prevarica- 
tion to  them  personally,  as  well  as  outrage  after  outrage  upon 
the  property,  and  still  more,  upon  the  lives  of  very  many  Ameri- 
can citizens. 
139.  27.  The  treason  statutes  of  the  United  States  have  seldom 
been  invoked,  but  they  exist  and  possess  teeth. 

It  is  treason  to  "levy  war  against  the  United  States,  adhere 
to  their  enemies,  or  give  them  aid  or  comfort."  (Chapter  1, 
section  1,  Eevised  Statutes.)  The  penalty  is  death,  or  imprison- 
ment for  at  least  five  years,  and  a  fine  of  at  least  $10,000. 

It  is  "misprision  of  treason"  to  know  of  any  treasonable 
plots  or  doings  and  fail  to  report  the  same  to  the  authorities. 
The  penalty  is  seven  years'  imprisonment.  The  penalty  for 
inciting  a  rebellion  or  insurrection  is  ten  years,  and  the  crime  of 
entering  into  any  correspondence  with  a  foreign  government 
to  influence  it  in  any  dispute  with  the  United  States,  or  to 


274  Democracy  Today 

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defeat  any  measures  taken  by  our  Government,  calls  for  three 
years'  imprisonment,  (Chapter  1,  section  5.)  There  is  also  a 
penalty  of  six  years'  imprisonment  for  any  seditious  conspiracy 
to  oppose  the  authority  of  the  United  States. 
•39-  All  these  laws  President  Wilson  has,  by  recent  proclamation 
.(April  6,  1917),  reminded  the  people  are  in  full  force. 

"Giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States"  has  been  defined  in  the  courts  (30  Federal  Cases,  No. 
18272),  as— 

"In  general,  any  act  clearly  indicating  a  want  of  loyalty  to 
the  Government  and  sympathy  with  its  enemies,  and  which  by 
fair  construction  is  directly  in  furtherance  of  their  hostUe 
designs."  Such  deeds  are,  of  course,  liable  to  all  the  penalty 
of  treason. 

In  extreme  cases  also,  of  "rebellion  and  invasion"  the  Con- 
stitution specifically  gives  the  Government  power  to  suspend 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  (Constitution,  Article  I,  section  9, 
paragraph  2)  ;  in  other  words,  to  arrest  and  imprison  on  mere 
suspicion  without  trial,  and  this  was  actually  done  in  the  Civil 
War. 

28.  Abraham  Lincoln  (second  inaugural  address,  1865). 

'  *  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  finish  the 
work  we  are  in — to  bind  up  one  another 's  wounds,  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and 
orphans;  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

Friedrich  von  Bemhardi  (German  lieutenant  general,  and 
acceptable  mouthpiece,  not  of  the  whole  German  nation,  but  of 
the  Prussian  military  caste  which  holds  the  German  nation  in 
its  grip)  : 

"Might  is  at  once  the  supreme  right,  and  the  dispute  as  to 
what  is  right  is  decided  by  the  arbitrament  of  war"  (page  23). 

"The  inevitableness,  the  idealism,  and  the  blessedness  of  war 
as  the  indispensable  and  stimulating  law  of  development  must 
be  repeatedly  emphasized  (page  37). 

*  *  Our  people  must  learn  to  feel  that  the  maintenance  of  peace 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        275 

rage 

never  can  or  may  be  the  goal  of  a  policy"  (page  37,  "Germany 
and  the  Next  War"). 

Which  of  these  two  national  viewpoints  is  to  be  allowed  to 
dominate  the  world? 
140.      29.  The  last  sentence  is  an  adaptation  of  the  close  of  Luther's 
defense  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1521,  "I  can  not  do  other- 
wise.   God  help  me." 

Flag  Day  Address 

All  the  following  notes  on  the  Flag  Day  Address  are  taken  by 
special  permission  from  the  text  of  the  President's  Address  offi- 
cially annotated  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Information.  (See 
page  15.) 

142.  1,  As  for  espionage,  Konig,  the  head  of  the  Hamburg- Amer- 
ican secret  service,  who  was  active  in  passport  frauds,  who 
induced  Gustave  Stahl  to  perjure  himself  and  declare  the 
Lusitania  armed,  and  who  plotted  the  destruction  of  the  Wel- 
land  Canal,  has,  in  his  work  as  a  spy,  passed  under  thirteen 
aliases  in  this  country  and  Canada.  As  for  the  corruption  of 
public  opinion,  it  has  proceeded  both  openly  and  under  cover. 
Dr.  Dernburg  was  the  official  missionary,  and  he  and  others 
went  up  and  down  the  land.  Newspapers  have  been  started  with 
German  money  and  others  have  received  secret  subsidies  from 
the  German  Government.  The  accounts  of  large  sums  given  in 
this  way  to  buy  up  newspapers  or  individuals  have  already 
been  published.  Most  important  of  all,  in  a  telegram,  dated 
January  22,  1917,  but  just  made  public  by  the  Secretary  of 
State,  von  Bernstorff  asked  his  Government  for  authority  to 
expend  $50,000  "in  order,  as  on  former  occasions,  to  influence 
Congress  through  the  organization  you  know  of." 

As  for  conspiracy  in  our  midst,  it  has  taken  various  forms 
under  the  fostering  and  munificent  hands  of  Gapts.  Boy-Ed,  von 
Papen,  von  Eintelen,  Tauscher,  and  von  Igel,  all  directly  con- 
nected with  the  German  Government.  For  what  unlawful  and 
seditious  purposes  their  money  was  spent — for  bombs  to  blow 
up  our  merchant  vessels  and  their  crews,  for  evading  our  laws 
and  supplying  German  raiders  at  sea,  or  for  organizing  dis- 
guised pro-German  societies,  is  plain  from  the  von  Igel  papers 
now  in  possession  of  our  Government.     In  others  there  is  the 


276  Democracy  Today 

Page 

implication  that  the  German  diplomatists  in  America  were 
involved  in  the  Separatist  movement  in  the  Province  of  Quebec. 
The  German  agents  spent  $600,000  on  Huerta  's  abortive  attempt 
in  this  country  to  start  a  revolution  in  Mexico  (1915).  For 
the  whole  subject  see  files  of  New  York  World  and  New  York 
Times  Index  under  "German  and  Austro-Hungarian  conspira- 
tors," "German  plots,  etc.,  for  1914-1917,"  and  Congressional 
Becord,  April  5,  1917,  pp.  192,  193. 

142.  2.  They  have  sought  to  destroy  our  industries  by  bringing 
about  strikes  and  inducing  men  to  quit  work.  Labor 's  National 
Peace  Council  attempted  to  bring  about  a  strike  among  23,000 
longshoremen  (Gompers's  statement.  New  York  Times,  Sept.  14, 
1915),  and  that  was  not  the  only  attempt.  Ambassador  Dumba 
and  Consul  General  von  Nuber  ran  advertisements  in  various 
papers  calling  upon  all  loyal  Austrians  to  quit  work  in  muni- 
tions factories.  German  official  documents,  seized  in  Capt.  von 
Igel's  office,  present  as  an  argument  against  Austro-Hungary 's 
cutting  off  the  subsidy  to  a  pretended  employment  bureau, 
which  was  in  reality  a  branch  of  the  German  Secret  Service, 
that  this  "Liebau  Bureau"  had  been  highly  successful  in 
fomenting  strikes  and  disturbances  at  munition  factories.  (Cf. 
letter  of  Mar.  24,  1916,  to  Ambassador  von  Bemstorff.)  Dum- 
ba's  letter,  reporting  his  plans  to  bring  about  disturbances  in 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  "Works,  was  seized  by  the  British  among 
the  belongings  of  Mr.  Archibald,  a  subsidized  American  corre- 
spondent, and  Dumba  's«  recall  was  thereupon  demanded  by  our 
Department  of  State. 

The  Germans  have  sought  to  arrest  our  commerce,  not  by 
submarines  alone,  but  by  blowing  up  ships  in  harbor  and  at 
flea.  They  have  put  bombs  in  coal  bunkers  and  tied  them  to 
rudder  posts.  Models  of  Eobert  Fay's  contrivances  for  this 
latter  purpose  were  exhibited  at  his  trial,  and  he  spared  pas- 
senger ships  only  because  twin  screws  baffled  him.  By  Fay's 
own  confession  and  that  of  his  partner  the  money  for  this  com- 
bination of  treachery  and  murder  came  from  the  German  secret 
police. 

•43.      3.  The  reference  is  to  the  note  sent  by  Dr.  Alfred  Zimmer- 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        277 

Page 

mann,  foreign  secretary,  to  von  Eckhart,  German  minister  to 
Mexico,  requesting  him  to  seek  an  alliance  against  us  with 
Mexico  and  Japan.  See  Note  22  to  the  War  Message.  The 
note  was  intercepted,  and  when  in  March  its  contents  were  made 
known  it  set  popular  feeling  aflame  and  more  than  any  other 
act  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  Germany  aroused  the  Amer- 
ican public. 
143.  4,  Possibly  the  most  glaring  instance  of  German  official 
effrontery  was  the  permission  to  regular  American  passenger 
steamers  to  continue  their  sailings  undisturbed  after  February 
1,  1917,  if— 

' '  (o)  The  port  of  destination  is  Falmouth. 

"  (6)  Sailing  to  or  coming  from  that  port  course  is  taken  via 
the  Scilly  Islands  and  a  point  50°  N.  20°  W. 

"  (c)  The  steamers  are  marked  in  the  following  way,  which 
must  not  be  allowed  to  other  vessels  in  American  ports:  On 
ship's  huU  and  superstructure  three  vertical  stripes,  1  meter 
wide,  each  to  be  painted  alternately  white  and  red.  Each  mast 
should  show  a  large  flag  checkered  white  and  red  and  the  stern 
the  American  national  flag.  Care  should  be  taken  that,  during 
dark,  national  flag  and  painted  marks  are  easily  recognizable 
from  a  distance,  and  that  the  boats  are  well  lighted  throughout. 

"(d)  One  steamer  a  week  sails  in  each  direction  with  arrival 
at  Falmouth  on  Sunday  and  departure  from  Falmouth  on 
Wednesday, 

"  (e)  The  United  States  Government  guarantees  that  no  con- 
traband (according  to  German  contraband  list)  is  carried  by 
those  steamers." 

The  German  ambassador  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  January 
31,  1917. 

5.  A  check  for  $5,000  to  J.  F.  J.  Archibald  for  * '  propaganda 
work,"  and  a  receipt  from  Edwin  Emerson,  the  war  corre- 
spondent, for  $1,000  "traveling  expenses"  were  among  the 
documents  found  in  von  Igel  's  possession.  Many  persona  in 
places  of  influence  and  authority  were  approached. 

Others  likewise  bearing  English  names  have  been  persuaded 
to  take  leading  places  in  similar  organizations  which  concealed 


278  Democracy  Today 

Page 

their  origin  and  real  purpose.  The  American  Embargo  Con- 
,  ference  arose  out  of  the  ashes  of  Labor's  Peace  Council,  and 
^  its  president  was  American,  though  the  funds  were  not.  Still 
others  tampered  with  were  journalists  who  lent  themselves  to 
the  German  propaganda,  and  who  went  so  far  as  to  serve  as 
couriers  between  the  Teutonic  embassies  and  Vienna  and  Berlin. 
•43-  6.  At  5  p.  m.,  Aug.  1,  the  German  Army  was  formally  mobil- 
ized, although  there  is  much  evidence  that  it  had  been  mobilized 
for  days,  and  at  7  p.  m.,  war  was  declared  against  Russia. 
On  Aug.  4  the  Reichstag,  the  representative  body  of  the  Ger- 
man Nation,  met,  and  for  the  first  time  learned  officially  what 
had  been  done.  Between  July  23  and  August  4  the  German 
Government  had  put  itself  in  the  posture  of  war  against  Russia, 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  Belgium,  and  had  violated  Luxem- 
burg, and  yet  had  asked  no  advice  or  consent  of  the  Germaji 
people.  That  is  why  it  is  proper  to  say  that  the  German  people 
did  not  begin  the  war,  or  the  mass  of  the  people  originate  it. 
Perhaps  the  most  conclusive  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  efforts 
made  by  the  Government  to  convince  the  people  that  the  war 
was  strictly  a  defensive  one.  "Envious  people  everywhere  are 
compelling  us  to  our  just  defense,"  said  the  Kaiser  on  July 
31;  and  again,  "The  sword  is  being  forced  into  our  hand." 
By  such  speeches  and  by  the  circulation  of  a  report  (since 
acknowledged  by  high  German  officials  to  be  false)  that  France 
had  already  attacked  Germany,  the  German  people  were  aroused. 
Even  the  invasion  of  Belgium  was  represented  to  be  a  defen- 
sive measure,  and  it  was  declared  by  the  Chancellor  in  the 
Eeichstag  and  by  everybody  else  in  authority  to  have  been  due 
to  certain  knowledge  that  France  herself  was  about  to  invade 
Belgium.  Lieut.  -Gen.  Freytag-Loringhoven,  Chief  of  the  Sup- 
plementary Staff,  has  recently  made  it  clear  that  this  was  not 
true.  He  admits  that  the  initial  success  of  the  German  arms 
was  largely  owing  to  the  French  expecting  the  German  advance 
elsewhere.     {N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  12,  1917.) 

7.  The  present  German  Empire  and  its  constitution  was 
formea  not  by  the  people  but  by  the  twenty-five  kings  and 
princes  of  Germany,  headed  by  the  King  of  Prussia.    Bismarck 


Biographical  and  Explanatory'  Notes        279 

Paee 

wrote  the  constitution  and  regarded  it  as  adopted  when  the  Ger- 
man princes  and  kings  approved  it.  It  was  never  submitted  to 
a  vote  of  the  people.  It  is  clear  at  once  how  perfect  this  con- 
stitution is.  It  is  perfect  from  the  standpoint  of  the  kings  and 
princes,  especially  of  the  Kaiser,  who,  as  King  of  Prussia,  con- 
trols two-thirds  of  the  people  and  two-thirds  of  the  land  of 
Germany. 

143.  Bismarck  did  not  choose  to  leave  the  people  out  entirely; 
thus  the  German  constitution  provides  for  an  elected  house, 
called  the  Eeiehstag.  It  is  chosen  by  manhood  suffrage  of 
those  over  twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  districts  established 
in  1871  are  unchanged  today.  This  means  that  the  large  cities 
which  have  grown  up  since  1871  and  contain  the  laboring  vote 
are  but  partially  represented,  and  the  German  Government  dares 
not  change  these  districts,  because  it  would  mean  an  increased 
vote  for  the  laboring  classes  and  the  Socialist  Party.  It  need 
not  be  so  fearful,  for,  under  the  constitution,  the  popular  house 
is  merely  a  great  debating  club,  which  may  talk  and  go  through 
the  forms  of  considering  legislation,  but  is  not  a  real  factor  in 
the  German  Government.  It  is  little  more  than  a  convenient 
piece  of  political  scene-painting,  and  the  room  where  it  meets 
has  been  well  called  by  one  of  the  members  the  **Hall  of 
Echoes. ' ' 

The  real  power  in  the  German  Parliament  lies  with  the 
Bundesrat,  a  body  of  61  members,  which  meets  in  secret.  It 
is  composed  of  diplomats  appointed  by  the  kings  and  princes  of 
Germany,  Prussia  having  the  largest  number.  These  ambassa- 
dors vote  at  the  direction  of  their  sovereigns,  and  as  the  King 
of  Prussia  is  the  most  powerful  and  appoints  the  chancellor,  who 
presides  over  the  Bundesrat,  he  has  enough,  votes  to  veto  any 
measure.  The  Bundesrat  is  not  only  safe  from  democracy  but 
it  is  the  body  through  which  the  Emperor,  as  King  of  Prussia, 
can  really  control  Germany.  Here  are  originated  almost  all 
bills,  and  all  legislation  must  be  approved  by  the  Bundesrat; 
this  means,  in  other  words,  by  Prussia  and  its  King,  the  present 
Emperor  "William  II.  It  is  thus  that  Germany  has  been  Prus- 
sianized in  its  government  and  filled  with  the  political  ambi- 
tions and  military  ideals  of  a  State  whose  best  models  of  a 


280  Democracy   Today 

Page 

ruler  are  still,  in  the  twentieth  century,  Frederick  the  Great 
and  his  brutal  father. 

•<3«  It  is  this  Government,  comprised  of  a  group  of  kings  and 
princes,  led  by  the  King  of  Prussia,  that  the  pro-Germans  praise 
as  the  most  democratic  in  the  world.  What  they  mean  is  that 
for  the  sake  of  keeping  the  people  quiet  and  submissive  to  their 
military  aims  the  autocracy  grants  them  old-age  pensions  and 
clean  streets,  and  in  return  expects  them  to  send  their  sons  to 
any  war  and  to  commit  any  act  for  tie  sake  of  a  State  where 
irresponsible  medieval-minded  sovereigns  still  believe  in  this 
twentieth  century  that  they  rule  by  divine  grace  and  are 
accountable  only  to  God.  But  the  god  that  they  have  in  mind 
is  a  war  god  whom  they  haye  created  in  their  own  image. 

This  picture:;  but  half  of  what  we  mean  by  autocracy,  for  it 
leaves  out  of  account  the  government  of  the  most  powerful 
State  in  Germany,  that  of  Prussia  itself.  When  one  knows  that 
in  Prussia  the  voters  are  divided  into  three  classes  according  to 
their  wealth,  and  one  nobleman's  or  rich  man's  vote  may  be 
equal  to  that  of  10,000  laborers,  and  that  actually  4  per  cent 
of  the  wealthy  people  count  for  as  much  as  82  per  cent  of  the 
laboring  and  poor  class,  some  may  think  that  this  is  efficient 
government;  but  the  only  people  they  can  get  to  agree  with 
them  are  the  Prussian  nobles,  landowners,  and  capitalists.  See 
Hazen,  The  German  Government,  published  and  distributed  by 
the  Committee  on  Public  Information. 

The  militaristic  group  which  started  the  war  without  con- 
sulting the  people's  representatives  have  been  equally  con- 
temptuous of  public  opinion  in  conducting  it.  In  England  there 
have  been  two  sweeping  changes  in  the  cabinet  in  response  to 
popular  demand,  and  in  France  both  cabinet  ministers  and 
army  leaders  have  been  changed;  but  in  Germany  even  when, 
after  three  years  of  war,  popular  discontent  led  to  the  fall  of 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  the  first  secret  conferences  concerning  his 
successor  were  evidently  with  the  army  generals  and  then  with 
the  crown  council  at  which  the  Crown  Prince,  was  present.  The 
new  chancellor,  Michaelis,  was  so  far  from  being  the  choice  of 
tihe  people  that  even  the  most  hostile  groups  in  the  Reichstag 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        281 

/age 

did  not  know  what  to  make  of  him.  Michaelis  has  already 
been  displaced  hj  another  puppet  of  the  Emperor's,  von 
Hertling.     He  will  doubtless  soon  be  removed  in  his  turn. 

•44.  8.  Dispatches  from  Petrograd  carry  new  evidence  from  the 
secret  Russian  archives  of  the  Kaiser's  intrigues  against  small 
states.  In  telegrams  signed  "Nicky"  and  "Willy,"  the  Czar 
and  the  German  Emperor  are  shown  to  have  been  arranging  in 
1905  for  a  secret  alliance  endangering  Denmark.  In  case  of 
war  with  England,  Denmark  was  to  be  treated  as  Belgium 
has  been  in  the  present  war,  except  that  a  preliminary  effort 
was  to  be  made  to  make  the  Danes  see  and  accept  the  inevi- 
table. The  German  Emperor  telegraphed  on  August  2,  1905, 
from  Copenhagen,  where  he  had  gone  to  break  ground  for  the 
nefarious  scheme: 

•'Considering  great  number  of  channels  leading  from  Copen- 
hagen to  London  and  proverbial  want  of  discretion  of  the 
Danish  court,  I  was  afraid  to  let  anything  be  known  about  our 
alliance,  as  it  would  immediately  have  been  communicated  to 
London,  a  most  impossible  thing  so  long  as  treaty  is  to  remain 
secret  for  the  present. 

"By  long  conversation  with  Isvolsky,  however,  I  was  able  to 
gather  that  actual  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Count  Eaben, 
and  a  number  of  persons  of  influence  have  already  come  to  the 
conviction  that  in  case  of  war  and  impending  attack  on  Baltic 
from  foreign  power  Danes  expect — their  inability  and  helpless- 
ness to  uphold  even  shadow  of  neutrality  against  invasion  being 
evident — that  Eussia  and  Germany  will  immediately  take  steps 
to  safeguard  their  interests  by  laying  hands  on  Denmark  and 
occupying  it  during  the  war. 

"As  this  would  at  the  same  time  guarantee  territory  and 
future  existence  of  dynasty  and  country,  the  Danes  are  slowly 
resigning  themselves  to  this  alternative  and  making  up  their 
minds  accordingly.  This  being  exactly  what  you  wished  and 
hoped  for,  I  thought  it  better  not  to  touch  on  the  subject  with 
Danes  and  refrained  from  making  any  allusions. 

"It  is  better  to  let  the  idea  develop  and  ripen  in  their  heada 
and  let  them  draw  final  conclusions  themselves,  so  that  they 


282  Democracy  Today 

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will  of  their  own  accord  be  moved  to  lean  upon  us  and  fall  in 
line  with  our  two  countries.  Tout  vient  a  qui  sait  attendre. 
['All  things  come  to  him  who  waits.'] 

' '  Willy.  ' ' 
***■  9.  Some  of  the  German  conceptions  and  plans  are  indicated 
in  the  quotations  that  follow.  These  quotations  are  necessarily 
brief,  and  for  that  reason  they  may  seem  somewhat  sharp,  but 
they  are  none  the  less  typical  of  the  spirit  that  is  to  be  found 
in  scores  of  German  pamphlets  and  books,  in  a  wide  range  of 
newspapers,  and,  indeed,  in  the  conversation  of  a  large  number 
of  intelligent  Germans.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  of  course, 
that  all  Germans  knew  the  bitter  logic  of  such  notions.  Prob- 
ably a  majority  did  not.  But  unfortunately  a  powerful  and 
increasing  minority,  a  clamorous  minority,  were  in  favor  of 
the  policy  of  military  aggression. 

"Koom — they  must  make  room.  The  western  and  southern 
Slavs — or  we.  Since  we  are  the  stronger,  the  choice  will  not 
be  difficult.  We  must  quit  our  modest  waiting  at  the  door. 
Only  by  growth  can  a  people  save  itself."  (Otto  E.  Tannen- 
berg,  Gross-Deutschland :  die  Arheit  des  20ten  Jahrhunderts 
[Greater  Germany:  the  work  of  the  20th  century],  1911,  pp. 
74-75.) 

"We  are  of  the  race  of  the  Thunderer; 

We  will  possess  the  earth. 

That  is  the  old  right  of  the  Germans — 

To  win  land  with  the  hanuner. 
"This  right  of  the  Germans  arises,  let  it  be  said  once  more, 
out  of  German  civilization,  the  best  on  earth.  ,  .  .  for- 
ward, then,  into  the  fight  for  German  aims,  and  'far  as  the 
hammer  is  hurled,  let  the  earth  be  ours.'  "  (Bley,  Die  Welt- 
stellung  des  BeutscMums,  f Germany's  Position  in  the  World], 
1897,  pp.  27-29.) 

"Our  fathers  have  left  us  much  to  do.  The  German  people 
is  so  situated  in  Europe  that  it  need  only  run  and  take  what- 
ever    it     requires.     .     .     .     Today     ...     it     is     for     Ger- 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        283 

Page 

many  to  rise  from  a  European  to  a  world  power,  .  .-  . 
Humanitarian  dreams  are  imbecility.  Diplomatic  charity  begins 
at  home.  Statesmanship  is  business.  Eight  and  wrong  are 
notions  indispensable  in  private  life.  The  German  people  are 
right  because  they  number  87,000,000  souls.  Our  fathers  have 
left  us  much  to  do."  (O.  E.  Tannenberg,  Gross-Deutschland: 
die  Arbeit  des  SOten  Jahrhunderts,  1911,  pp.  230-31.) 

144.  "It  is  our  sacred  duty  to  sharpen  the  sword  that  has  been 
put  into  our  hands  and  to  hold  it  ready  for  defense  as  well  as 
for  offense.  We  must  allow  the  idea  to  sink  into  the  minds  of 
our  people  that  our  armaments  are  an  answer  to  the  armaments 
and  policy  of  the  French.  We  must  accustom  them  to  think 
that  an  offensive  war  on  our  part  is  a  necessity,  in  order  to 
combat  the  provocations  of  our  adversaries.  We  must  act  with 
prudence  so  as  not  to  arouse  suspicion  and  to  avoid  the  crises 
which  might  injure  our  economic  existence.  We  must  so  man- 
age matters  that  under  the  heavy  weight  of  powerful  arma- 
ments, considerable  sacrifices,  and  strained  political  relations 
the  precipitation  of  war  (Losschlagen)  should  be  considered  as 
a  relief,  because  after  it  would  come  decades  of  peace  and 
prosperity,  as  after  1870."  (Memorandum  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment on  the  strengthening  of  the  German  Army,  Berlin, 
Mar.  19,  1913;  French  Yellow  Book,  Carnegie  edition,  1915,  I, 
p.  542.) 

"Do  not  let  us  forget  the  civilizing  task  which  the  decrees 
of  Providence  have  assigned  to  us.  Just  as  Prussia  was  des- 
tined to  be  the  nucleus  of  Germany,  so  the  regenerated  Ger- 
many shall  be  the  nucleus  of  a  future  empire  of  the  west.  And 
in  order  that  no  one  shall  be  left  in  doubt,  we  proclaim  from 
henceforth  that  our  continental  nation  has  a  right  to  the  sea, 
not  only  to  the  North  Sea  but  to  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Atlantic.  Hence  we  intend  to  absorb  one  after  another  all  the 
provinces  which  neighbor  on  Prussia.  We  will  successively 
annex  Denmark,  Holland,  Belgium,  northern  Switzerland,  then 
Trieste  and  Venice,  finally  northern  France,  from  the  Sambre 
to  the  Loiref  This  programme  we  fearlessly  pronounce.  It  is 
not  the  work  of  a  madman.  The  empire  we  intend  to  found 
will   be  no   Utopia.     We  have   ready   to   hand   the  means  of 


284  Democracy   Today 

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founding  it  and  no  coalition  in  the  world  can  stop  us."  (Bron- 
sart  von  Schellendorf,  quoted  by  H.  A.  L.  Fisher  in  The  War, 
Its  Causes  and  Issues,  1914,  p.  16.) 
***•  10.  In  his  published  speeches  the  Kaiser  never  makes  a  down- 
right assertion  of  a  wish  to  conquer  other  peoples.  But  he  is 
continually  "sharpening"  his  "sword,"  glorifying  war  and 
the  military  deeds  of  his  ancestors,  and  urging  his  army  to  be 
ready  for  its  great  work.  In  much  that  he  says  this  notion  of 
aggression  is  implicit.  The  following  excerpts  show  the  dan- 
gerous drift  of  his  mind,  and  that  of  his  son  and  heir  and  of  the 
ruler  of  the  second  kingdom  in  the  Empire: 

"The  German  people  is  of  one  mind  with  its  princes  and  its 
Emperor  in  the  feeling  that  in  its  powerful  development  it 
must  set  up  a  new  boundary  post  and  create  a  great  fleet  which 
will  correspond  to  its  needs."  (Kaiser's  speech,  Berlin,  Feb. 
13,  1900.  Christian  Gauss,  The  German  Emperor  as  Shown  in 
His  Public  Utterances.  1913,  p.  158.) 

"I  hope  it  [Germany]  will  be  granted,  through  the  harmoni- 
ous cooperation  of  princes  and  peoples,  of  its  armies  and  its 
citizens,  to  become  in  the  future  as  closely  united,  as  powerful, 
and  as  authoritative  as  once  the  Eoman  world  empire  was,  and 
that,  just  as  in  the  old  times  they  said  'Civis  romanus  sum,' 
hereafter,  at  some  time  in  the  future,  they  will  say,  'I  am  a 
German  citizen.'  "  (Kaiser's  speech  of  Oct.  11,  1900,  Chris- 
tian Gauss,  p.  169.) 

"At  the  declaration  of  war  Bussia  followed  France,  and  then 
the  English  also  fell  upon  us.  ...  I  am  glad  of  it,  and 
I  am  glad  because  we  can  now  have  a  reckoning  with  our  ene- 
mies and  because  now  at  length  ...  we  can  get  a  direct 
outlet  from  the  Ehine  to  the  sea.  Ten  months  have  gone  by 
eince  that  time.  Much  precious  blood  has  been  shed.  It  has 
not,  however,  been  shed  for  nothing.  A  strengthening  of  the 
German  Empire  and  an  expansion  outward  beyond  its  boun- 
daries as  far  as  this  is  necessary — an  expansion  by  which  we 
shall  be  protected  against  further  attacks — that  will  be  the 
gain  (Frucht)  of  this  war."  (Speech  by  the  King  of  Bavaria, 
June  7,  1915,  at  the  banquet  of  the  Bavarian  Canal  Association. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        285 

Page 

Quoted     by     Grumbach,     Das     annexionistische     Deutschland, 
[Germany  with  Annexations],  1917,  page  5.) 

T44.  "It  is  only  by  relying  on  our  good  German  sword  that  we 
can  tope  to  conquer  that  place  in  the  sun  which  rightly  belongs 
to  us,  and  which  the  world  does  not  seem  willing  to  accord  U8 
.  .  .  till  the  world  comes  to  an  end,  the  ultimate  decision 
must  rest  with  the  sword."  (Extract  from  the  Crown  Prince's 
introduction  to  Germany  in  Arms,  issued  in  1913.) 

"War  is  the  noblest  and  holiest  expression  of  human  activ- 
ity. For  us,  too,  the  glad,  great  hour  of  battle  will  strike. 
Still  and  deep  in  the  German  heart  must  live  the  joy  of  battle 
and  the  longing  for  it.  Let  us  ridicule  to  the  utmost  the  old 
women  in  breeches  who  fear  war  and  deplore  it  as  cruel  and 
revolting.  No;  war  is  beautiful.  Its  august  sublimity  elevates 
the  human  heart  beyond  the  earthly  and  the  common.  In  the 
cloud  palace  above  sit  the  heroes  Frederick  the  Great  and 
Bliicher^  and  all  the  men  of  action — ^the  great  Emperor,  Moltke, 
Eoon,  Bismarck — are  there  as  well,  but  not  the  old  women  Who 
would  take  away  our  joy  in  war.  When  here  on  earth  a  battle 
is  won  by  German  arms  and  the  faithful  dead  ascend  to  heaven, 
a  Potsdam  lance  corporal  will  call  the  guard  to  the  door,  and 
*old  Fritz,'  springing  from  his  golden  throne,  wUl  give  the 
command  to  present  arms.  That  is  the  heaven  of  young  Ger- 
many. ' '  (Jung  Deutschland,  the  official  organ  of  the  * '  Young 
German  League,"  October,  1913.  Quoted  by  J.  P.  Bang, 
Hurrah  and  Hallelujah,  1917,  p.  212.) 

The  following  is  the  testimony  of  Otfried  Nippold,  professor 
of  church  history  at  Jena.  On  his  return  from  a  residence  of 
several  years  in  Japan  he  was  shocked  to  observe  the  extraor- 
dinary growth  of  jingoism  in  Germany.  He  gathered  in  most 
careful  fashion  a  collection  of  statements  advocating  war  and 
conquest,  made  in  the  years  1912-13  by  prominent  men,  by  well- 
known  associations,  and  by  leading  newspapers.  At  the  end  of 
his  book  of  more  than  a  hundred  pages  this  German  scholar 
made  the  following  careful  statement  of  the  situation: 

"The  evidence  submitted  in  this  book  amounts  to  an  irre- 
futable proof  that  a  systematic  stimulation  of  the  war  spirit  is 


286  Democracy   Today 

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going  on,  based  on  the  one  hand  on  the  wishes  of  the  Pan- 
German  League  and  on  the  other  on  the  agitation  of  the 
Defense  Association  {Wehrverein).  One  cannot  but  feel  deep 
regret  in  discovering  that  in  Germany,  as  well  as  in  other  coun- 
tries, ill-feeling  against  other  States  and  Nations  is  being 
stirred  up  so  unjustifiably  and  that  people  are  being  so  unscrup- 
ulously incited  to  war.  ... 
144.  ' '  We  have  come  across  other  speakers  and  writers — and  they 
are  decidedly  in  the  majority,  so  far  as  the  passages  quoted  in 
these  pages  are  concerned — who  deal  with  the  matter  in  a  much 
more  thoroughgoing  way.  These  men  do  not  only  occasionally 
incite  people  to  war,  but  they  systematically  inculcate  a  desire 
for  war  in  the  minds  of  the  German  people.  In  the  opinion 
of  these  instigators,  the  German^  Nation  needs  a  war ;  a  long- 
continued  peace  seems  regrettable  to  them  just  because  it  is  a 
peace,  no  matter  whether  there  is  any  reason  for  war  or  not, 
and  therefore,  in  case  of  need,  one  must  simply  strive  to  bring 
it  about.     .     .     . 

"From  this  dogma  (that  war  must  come)  it  is  only  a  step 
to  the  next  chauvinistic  principle,  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  our 
soldier  politicians  who  are  languishing  for  war — the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  aggressive  or  preventive  war.  If  it  be 
true  that  war  is  to  come,  then  let  it  come  at  the  moment  which 
is  most  favorable  to  ourselves.  In  other  words,  do  not  wait  until 
there  is  a  reason  for  war,  but  strike  when  it  is  iflost  convenient. 
.     .     .     And,  above  all,  as  soon  as  possible.     .     .     . 

"If  their  theory  holds  good,  Germany,  even  if  she  conquered 
ever  so  many  colonies,  would  again  be  in  need  of  war  after  a 
few  decades,  since  otherwise  the  German  Nation  would  again 
•be  in  danger  of  moral  degeneration.  The  truth  is  that,  to 
them,  war  is  quite  a  normal  institution  of  international  inter- 
course and  not  in  any  way  a  means  of  settling  great  interna- 
tional conflicts — not  a  means  to  be  resorted  to  only  in  case  of 
great  necessity."  {Ber  deutsche  Chauvinismus,  [Germao 
Chauvinism],   1913,   pp.    113-117.) 

The  powerful  forces  exciting  the  war  mania  were  analyzed 
again  and  again  by  leading  Social  Democrats  in  the  Eeichstag. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        287 

Page 

Their  views  confirm  the  following  statement  made  by  the 
French  minister  of  foreign  affairs  in  his  report  (July  30, 
1913)  : 
144.  "Some  want  war  because,  in  the  present  circumstances,  they 
think  it  inevitable;  and,  as  far  as  Germany  is  concerned,  the 
sooner  the  better.  Others  regard  war  as  necessary  for  economic 
reasons,  based  on  overpopulation,  overproduction,  and  the  need 
for  markets  and  outlets,  and  also  for  social  reasons.  .  .  . 
Others,  uneasy  for  the  safety  of  the  Empire  and  believing  that 
time  is  on  the  side  of  France,  think  that  events  should  be 
brought  to  an  immediate  head.  .  .  .  Others  are  bellicose 
from  '  Bismarekism, '  as  it  may  be  termed.  They  feel  them- 
selves humiliated  at  having  to  enter  into  discussions  with 
France.  .  .  .  Angry  disappointment  is  the  unifying  force 
of  the  Wehrvereine  and  other  associations-  of  young  Germany. 
.  .  .  Others  again  want  war  from  a  mystic  hatred  of 
revolutionary  France  .  .  .  [The  writer  goes  on  to  say 
that  the  country  squires,  the  aristocracy,  which  is  military  in 
character,  the  higher  bourgeoisie,  the  manufacturers,  big  mer- 
chants, and  bankers  are  in  favor  of  war].  The  universities, 
if  we  except  a  few  distinguished  spirits,  develop  a  warlike 
philosophy.  .  .  .  Historians,  philosophers,  political  pam- 
phleteers, and  other  apologists  of  German  Kultur,  wish  to 
impose  upon  the  world  a  way  of  thinking  and  feeling  specific- 
ally German.  .  .  .  We  come  finally  to  those  whose  sup- 
port of  the  war  policy  is  inspired  by  rancour  and  resentment. 
.  .  .  * '  (French  Yellow  Book,  Doc.  No.  5.  Diplomatic 
Documents,  Carnegie  edition,  1916,  I,  pp.  551-553.) 

It  will  not  escape  the  reader's  attention  that  these  three 
statements  from  widely  differing  sources  were  made  from  one 
to  three  years  before  Oermany  plunged  the  world  into  the  war 
she  wanted. 

Even  now  (November,  1917)  the  rulers  of  Germany  can  not 
abandon  their  schemes  for  annexation.  Eecently  the  Eeichstag, 
impelled  probably  by  the  growing  peril  of  Germany 's  situation, 
voted  against  annexations  and  indemnities.  Alarmed  by  this 
vote,  the  Pan-Germans  have  been  conducting  a  campaign  of 
mass  meetings  and  telegrams.    Tbey  sent  a  wire  to  the  recent 


288  Democracy  Today 

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chancellor,  Michaelis,  urging  that  peace  without  indemnities 
and  extensions  of  territory  was  impossible.  To  this  the  chan- 
cellor answered:  "I  am  firmly  confident  that  the  splendid 
military  situation  will  help  us  to  a  peace  which  will  guarantee 
permanently  the  German  Empire's  condition  of  existence  (sic) 
on  the  Continent  and  overseas."  (New  York  Times,  Aug.  10, 
1917.)  Michaelis 's  phrases  were  those  commonly  used  by  the 
Germans  who  wish  extension  of  territory,  but  who  express  their 
wishes  agreeably.  He  was  indicating  in  a  polite  and  guarded 
way  that  the  Pan-Germans  should  understand  that  their  plans 
of  conquest  had  not  been  given  up. 

***•  11.  In  Roumania  the  house  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ;  in 
Bulgaria  the  house  of  Saxe-Coburg  and  Gotha;  in  Albania  the 
inglorious  house  of  Wied.  What  the  late  Queen  of  Greece, 
the  Kaiser 's  sister,  accomplished  for  the  German  cause  is  suffi- 
ciently known.  In  Montenegro  the  heir  apparent  is  married  to 
a  German  princess.  Only  the  Serbian  royal  house  is  without 
German  connections. 

12.  Not  long  after  the  treaty  of  Berlin  (1878)  German  offi- 
cers, one  of  whom  was  General  von  der  Goltz,  set  about  reorgan- 
izing the  Turkish  Army.  In  1888  German  financiers,  depending 
upon  the  Deutsche  Bank,  asked  for  a  railway  concession.  In 
the  next  year  the  Kaiser,  William  II,  visited  Abdul  Hamid. 
By  1891  German  influence  at  Constantinople  became  evident. 
Germans  in  Turkey  were  directing  the  building  of  railways  and 
Germans  at  home  were  urging  the  necessity  of  German  rail- 
ways to  the  Persian  Gulf.  In  1898  the  Kaiser  went  to  Con- 
stantinople and  on  to  Palestine,  w'here  he  declared  himself  the 
friend  of  300,000,000  Moslems.  In  1899  Dr.  Siemens,  a  Berlin 
capitalist,  signed  the  Bagdad  Railway  convention  with  Turkey. 
Although  capitalists  of  other  nations  were  allowed  to  share  in 
financing  the  road,  German  interests  maintained  control  over 
it.  Since  that  time  German  officers  have  been  going  to  Turkey 
in  numbers,  drilling  the  Turkish  troops,  teaching  them  modern 
warfare,  equipping  the  army  with  the  best  new  artillery,  and 
thoroughly  fortifying  strategic  points.  Meanwhile  German 
diplomats  were  studiously  indifferent   to   Armenian  atrocities 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        289 

Paee 

perpetrated  by  the  Turks.  When  the  Young  Turk  movement 
culminated  in  the  revolution  of  1908  the  Kaiser's  government 
was  quick  to  show  favor  to  the  new  government.  German 
officers  assisted  the  Turks  in  their  two  Balkan  wars,  1912-13. 
These  different  moves  have  all  been  part  of  a  general  plan. 
For  two  decades  German  policy  has  been  to  create  in  Turkey 
a  strong  but  subordinated  military  ally  and  to  bring  her  within 
the  German  economic  system.  Eich  territories  in  Asia  Minor 
and  the  Mesopotamian  valley  might  thus  be  developed,  an  all- 
German  route  to  the  East  assured,  and  Britain's  routes  to  India 
and  her  position  in  Egypt  brought  within  striking  distance, 

***■  13.  See  the  French  Yellow  Book  {Diplomatic  Documents,  Car- 
negie edition),  for  a  secret  German  document  bearing  date  of 
March  19,  1913,  obtained  from  a  reliable  source  and  commu- 
nicated to  M.  Jonnart,  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  by  M. 
fitienne,  minister  of  war,  April  2,  1913.  The  German  writer 
discusses  plans  for  increase  of  armament,  and  for  war,  partic- 
ularly against  France  (pp.  542-3) :  "We  must  not  be  anxious 
about  the  fate  of  our  colonies.  The  final  result  in  Europe  will 
settle  their  position.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  stir  up 
trouble  in  the  north  of  Africa  and  in  Russia.  It  is  a  means 
of  keeping  the  forces  of  the  enemy  engaged.  It  is,  therefore, 
absolutely  necessary  that  we  should  open  ijp  relations,  by  means 
of  well-chosen  agents,  with  influential  people  in  Egypt,  Tunis, 
Algeria,  and  Morocco,  in  order  to  prepare  the  measures  which 
would  be  necessary  in  the  case  of  a  European  war.  Of  course, 
in  case  of  war  we  would  openly  recognize  these  secret  allies, 
and  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  we  would  secure  to  them  the 
advantages  which  they  had  gained.  These  aims  are  capable  of 
realization.  The  first  attempt,  which  was  made  some  years  ago, 
opened  up  for  us  the  desired  relations.  Unfortunately  these 
relations  were  not  sufficiently  consolidated.  Risings  provoked 
In  time  of  war  by  political  agents  need  to  be  carefully  pre- 
pared and  by  material  means.  They  must  break  out  simultane- 
ously with  the  destruction  of  the  means  of  communication; 
they  must  have  a  controlling  head  to  be  found  among  the  influ- 
ential leaders,  religious  or  political.     The  Egyptian  school  is 


290  Democracy   Today 

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particularly  suited  to  this  purpose;  more  and  more  it  seires  as 
a  bond  between  the  intellectuals  of  the  Mohammedan  world." 

144.  For  the  detailed  story  of  the  activity  in  Egypt  after  this 
and  before  see  Times  (London),  Eistory  of  the  War,  III 
(1917),  pp.  292-295.  Von  Bemstorff  was  then  consular  agent, 
and  after  him  Prince  von  Hatzfeldt,  and  they  conducted  them- 
selves somewhat  as  both  have  done  since  in  America. 

On  July  7,  1917,  indictments  were  brought  in  the  Federal 
court  at  San  Francisco  against  98  persons,  including  German 
consuls  and  consuls  general.  At  the  same  time  the  following 
Btatement  was  made  by  the  Federal  district  attorney,  Mr.  John 
W.  Preston: 

' '  For  more  than  a  year  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  European 
war  certain  Hindus  in  San  Francisco  and  certain  Germans  were 
preparing  openly  for  war  with  England,  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  Hindu  leaders,  members  of  the  German  consulate  here 
and  attaches  of  the  German  Government,  began  to  form  plans 
to  foment  revolution  in  India  for  the  purpose  of  freeing  India 
and  aiding  Germans  in  their  military  operations. 

"Hindus  on  the  Pacific  coast  were  canvassed  and  those  will- 
ing to  take  part  in  the  revolution  were  registered.  Emissaries 
•'"ere  financed  by  the  German  agents  here  and  immediately  dis- 
patched to  Germany.  Shortly  thereafter  what  is  known  as  the 
India  committee,  an*adjunct  of  the  German  foreign  office,  was 
created  in  Berlin.  This  India  committee  had  the  personal  atten- 
tion of  Alfred  Zimmermann,  German  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 

"Thereafter  the  operations  of  the  plotters  in  the  United 
States  were  directed  from  Berlin.  The  conspiracy  took  the 
form  of  various  military  enterprises.  Arms  and  ammunition  in 
large  quantities  were  purchased  with  German  money.  Men  were 
recruited  and  sent  to  India." 

•45.  14.  On  June  28,  1914,  there  took  place  at  Serajevo,  Bosnia 
(Austrian,  territory  since  1909),  the  assassination  of  Archduke 
Ferdinand  and  nis  wife.  Serbians  undoubtedly  aided  and 
abetted  the  criminals.  The  Austrian  Government  asserts  that 
it  traced  the  source  of  the  deed  to  Serbian  territory,  and  erven 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        291 

Page 

it  maintains,  to  government  and  court  circles  in  Belgrade,  the 
Serbian  capital. 
145.  For  nearly  a  month  nothing  occurred.  Then,  on  July  23, 
almost  without  warning,  Austria-Hungary  made  known  her 
demands  upon  Serbia.  Their  main  purpose  seemed  to  be  the 
complete  extirpation  of  the  Pan-Serbian  movement  and  the  pun- 
ishment of  all  Serbians  implicated  in  the  crime  at  Serajevo. 
The  demands  involved  a  practical  denial  of  the  sovereignty  of 
Serbia.  A  reply  was,  furthermore,  demanded  by  6  o'clock  on 
July  25,  or  within  exactly  4B  hours. 

Serbia  made  a  reply  covering  every  point  in  the  demands. 
It  yielded  to  most  of  the  demands  and  showed  an  extremely 
conciliatory  spirit.  On  the  question  of  allowing  Austrian  offi- 
cers to  enter  Serbian  territory  in  order  to  take  part  in  the 
inquiries  or  judicial  proceedings  concerning  the  Serajevo  mur- 
ders, the  Serbian  Government  declared  that  it  would  "admit 
such  collaboration  as  agrees  with  the  principle  of  international 
law,  with  criminal  procedure,  and  with  good  neighborly  rela- 
tions." It  added  finally  that  if  the  Austro-Hungarian  Gov- 
ernment were  "not  satisfied  with  this  reply,  the  Serbian  Gov- 
ernment, considering  that  it  is  not  to  the  common  interest  to 
take  precipitate  action  in  the  solution  of  this  question,  i» 
ready,  as  always,  to  accept  a  pacific  understanding,  either  by 
referring  this  question  to  the  decision  of  the  international 
tribunal  at  The  Hague,  or  to  the  Great  Powers  which  took 
part  in  the  drawing  up  of  the  declaration  made  by  the  Serbian 
Government  on  the  18/31  of  'March,  1909." 

A  number  of  the  Powers  pleaded  the  Serbian  cause,  asking 
at  least  an  extension  of  the  time  limit  or  a  delay  in  making 
war,  but  the  Austrian  Government  would  abate  not  a  jot  or 
tittle  of  its  demands.  Its  unyielding  attitude  and  brusqueness 
startled  the  world,  and  have  justified  the  suspicion  that  Austria- 
Hungary  did  not  desire  a  satisfactory  reply. 

As  if  to  lend  color  to  this  suspicion  it  has  since  come  to  light 
that  in  August,  1913,  Austria-Hungary  had  already  formed  the 
plan  to  attack  Serbia.  Italy,  though  at  that  time  in  alliance 
with  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  refused  to  support  such 


292  Democracy   Today 

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an  aggression.  (Declaration  of  Signor  Giolitti  to  the  Italian 
Parliament,  Dec.  5,  1914.) 
«45-  15.  Across  the  path  of  this  railway  to  Bagdad  lay  Serbia— 
an  independent  country  whose  sovereign  alone  among  those  of 
southeastern  Europe  had  no  marriage  connection  with  Berlin,  a 
Serbia  that  looked  toward  Russia.  That  is  why  Europe  was 
nearly  driven  into  war  in  1913;  that  is  why  Germany  stood 
so  determinedly  behind  Austria's  demands  in  1914  and  forced 
war.  She  must  have  her  "corridor",  to  the  southeast;  she 
must  have  political  domination  all  along  the  route  of  the  great 
economic  empire  she  planned.  She  was  unwilling  to  await  the 
process  of  "peaceful  penetration." 

16.  "We  must  create  a  central  Europe  which  will  guarantee 
the  peace  of  the  entire  continent  from  the  moment  when  it  shall 
have  driven  the  Eussians  from  the  Bla«k  Sea  and  the  Slavs 
from  the  south,  and  shall  have  conquered  large  tracts  to  the 
east  of  our  frontiers  for  German  colonization.  We  can  not  let 
loose  ex  abrupto  the  war  which  will  create  this  central  Europe. 
All  we  can  do  is  to  accustom  our  people  to  the  thought  that 
this  war  must  come."  (Quoted  by  Ch.  Andler,  pp.  21,  22, 
from  Paul  de  Lagarde,  Deutsche  Schriften,  4th  ed-,  1903, 
p.  83.) 

The  projected  Middle  Europe  would,  through  its  hold  on 
Constantinople, "  close  the  chief  outlet  for  the  exports  of  the 
Eussian  Republic.  It  would,  through  the  erection  of  a  king- 
dom of  Poland,  united  to  Middle  Europe,  take  away  from 
Russia  almost  its  entire  manufacturing  area.  Such  an  Empire 
would  do  little  less  than  bring  the  Russian  Republic  into 
economic  dependence  upon  the  Teutonic  Powers.  And  this  eco- 
nomic dependence  could  be  used  as  a  club  to  bring  political 
dependence  as  well.  The  results  of  this  for  the  future  of 
Russia  are  easy  to  see. 

17.  "And  over  all  these;  over  the  Germans,  French,  Danes, 
and  Poles  in  the  German  Empire;  over  the  Magyars,  Ger- 
mans, Roumanians,  Slovaks,  Croats,  and  Serbs  in  Hungary; 
over  the  Germans,  Czechs,  Slovaks,  Poles,  and  southern  Slavs 
in  Austria,  let  us  imagine  once  again  the  controlling  concept 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes       293 

Page 

of  Mid-Europe.  Mid-Europe  will  have  a  German  nucleus,  will 
voluntarily  use  the  German  language,  which  is  known  all  over 
the  world  and  is  already  the  language  of  intercourse  within 
Central  Europe,  but  must  from  the  outset  display  toleration 
and  flexibility  in  regard  to  all  the  neighboring  languages  that 
are  associated  with  it."  (F.  Naumann,  Central  Europe,  1916, 
pp.  108-109.) 

'<5-  18.  The  German  government  of  Alsace-Lorraine  is  typical  of 
what  may  be  expected  if  Germany  annexes  more  territory  as 
a  result  of  this  war.  Belgium,  Luxemburg,  and  Russian  Poland 
have  no  more  wish  to  be  forcibly  joined  to  Germany  today 
■than  had  Alsace-Lorraine  in  1870;  and  if  they  suffer  that  fate 
only  the  threat  of  arms  will  keep  them  in  submission.  In  the 
more  than  forty  years  since  its  annexation  by  Germany,  Alsace- 
Lorraine  has  been  largely  Germanized,  yet  in  1914  it  was  stUl 
bitterly  opposed  to  a  Prussianized  Government. 

Since  1911,  the  Alsatians  have  looked  more  than  ever  toward 
France.  In  that  year  public  demonstrations  against  the  Prus- 
sian rule  became  more  pronounced  and  continued  intermittently 
down  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  1914.  In  1912  the  Emperor 
threatened  the  discontented  Alsatians  with  complete  suppres- 
sion of  their  constitution  unless  they  ceased  their  agitations. 
At  the  same  time  noticeable  Increases  were  made  in  the  gar- 
riscms  of  the  leading  cities,  and  work  upon  the  fortifications 
was  rushed.  In  1913  occurred  the  historic  Zabern  incident 
which  showed  the  complete  dominance  of  the  military  power 
over  civilian  government  and  rights.  "Lieutenant  von  Forst- 
ner,  of  the  garrison,  one  day  remarked  in  the  street  that  he 
•would  give  ten  marks  to  any  soldier  who  would  run  his  bayonet 
through  an  Alsatian  blackguard.  In  spite  of  popular  indigna- 
tion he  was  upheld  by  his  superiors,  .  .  .  but  he  was 
afraid  to  appear  in  the  streets  without  a  corporal 's  guard.  He 
etUl  further  earned  the  hatred  of  the  town  by  striking  with  his 
eword  a  lame  shoemaker  who  had  laughed  at  him."  Among 
the  unmUitaristic  classes  in  Germany  there  was  great  indigna- 
tion; but  in  the  Eeichstag,  the  ministry,  by  order  of  the  Em- 
peror, upheld  the  army,  without  compromise  or  apology. 


294  Democracy   Today 

Page 

Prussian  Poland  and  North  Schleswig  fare  little  if  any  bet- 
ter. The  three  and  a  half  million  Poles  in  Prussia  have  been 
subjected  in  recent  years  to  more  severe  persecutions  than 
their  compatriots  in  autocratic  Eussia.  They  have,  of  course, 
been  deprived  of  their  own  laws  since  1815.  More  recently, 
their  religious  liberty  has  been  restricted,  and  the  Polish  lan- 
guage forbidden  in  education,  in  public  business,  and  (with 
certain  temporary  exceptions)  in  public  meefings,  though  the 
great  majority  of  the  Polish  people  understand  no  other  lan- 
guage. As  a  supreme  effort  at  assimilation  the  Prussian  Gov- 
ernment has  been  trying,  partly  by  vast  expenditure  of  money 
and  partly  by  force,  to  compel  the  Poles  to  sell  their  lands 
and  to  introduce  German  colonists  to  take  their  places.  This 
interference  with  the  Polish  laws,  religion,  language,  and  prop- 
erty  was   not   provoked   in    the   first    instance    by    disloyalty, 

.  though  the  Poles  have  become  disloyal  in  consequence  of  it. 
Nor  have  the  150,000  Danes  in  North  Schleswig  been  saved  by 
their  inoffensive  obscurity,  their  Lutheran  religion,  or  even 
their  Teutonic  blood,  from  similar  persecutions,  with  similar 
"^^results.  If  left  in  German  hands  Belgium  may  expect  to  be 
another  Schleswig,   another  Poland. 

In  Austria-Hungary  the  situation  is  even  worse.  The  South 
Slavs  and  the  Eoumanians  in  Hungary  have  been  deprived  of 
the  right  to  vote  (although  guaranteed  to  them  in  1867) ; 
their  educational  institutions  nave  been  hampered  or  closed, 
their  economic  development  interfered  with.  And  this  is  the 
work  of  the  Hungarian  Government  which  has  Germany's 
wannest  approval  in  all  such  measures. 

146.  19.  The  German  cruisers,  the  Goeben  and  Breslau,  took  refuge 
in  the  Dardanelles  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Instead  of 
interning  these  fugitive  Ships  in  accordance  with  international 
law,  the  Turkish  Government,  already  under  German  influence, 
pretended  to  buy  them.  In  this  manner  the  German  Govern- 
ment became  master  of  the  situation  and  Turkey  lost  what- 
ever independence  it  may  still  have  had;  for  the  German 
admiral  and  crews  remained  on  board  and  a  German  element 
was  introduced  into  the  remainder  of  the  Turkish  fleet.     It 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        295 

Page 

was  this  Turco-German  fleet,  under  effective  German  control, 
that  forced  Turkey's  reluctant  entrance  into  the  war.  By 
order  of  the  German  admiral,  it  bombarded  Eussian  Black 
Sea  ports,  without  provocation,  without  warning,  without  previ- 
ous authorization  of  the  Ottoman  Government,  and  contrary  to 
the  desires  of  a  majority  of  its  members.  (Diplomatic  Docu- 
ments, Carnegie  edition,  part  ii,  pp.  1057-1205  and  1385-1437.) 
20.  The  Imperial  Government  will  continue  to  maneuver  for 
peace,  but,  in  its  present  spirit,  for  a  peace  to  be  arranged 
in  conference  at  a  "green  table,"  with  Germany  holding  as 
trumps  the  overrun  territories  now  in  her  possession,  and  not 
for  a  peace  guaranteed  "by  the  major  force  of  mankind." 
When  the  Keichstag  voted  for  peace  without  annexations,  the 
recent  chancellor,  Michaelis,  spoke  vaguely  at  first,  but  then 
hastened  to  reassure  the  alarmed  Pan-Germans.  When  the 
Pope's  proposals  were  brought  forward,  he  welcomed  them, 
but  remained  hopelessly  indefinite  as  to  whether  Germany 
would  assent  to  the  details. 

147.  21.  The  rapid  industrial  development  of  Germany  after  the 
war  of  1870,  though  due  to  economic  causes,  greatly  enhanced 
the  prestige  of  the  military  classes,  who  assumed  the  credit 
for  it.  Their  present  position  on  the  war  map  is  highly  advan- 
tageous to  them  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  for  they  now 
control  the  chief  centers  of  European  industry  outside  Great 
Britain.  They  'hold  the  greater  part  of  Belgium,  one  of  the 
most  highly  developed  industrial  centers  of  the  world.  They 
are  exploiting  the  chief  mining  and  manufacturing  part  of 
France,  the  oil  and  wheat  fields  of  Eoumania  and  one  of  the 
few  important  manufacturing  districts  of  Eussia.  They  have 
secured  the  Balkan  corridor  to  the  Near  East,  with  its  bound- 
less possibilities  of  commercial  exploitation  and  of  further 
political  aggression  in  the  direction  of  Egypt  and  India.  If 
they  can  retain  these  conquests  they  will  be  permanently 
enriched  at  the  expense  of  their  impoverished  neighbors.  If 
they  can  capitalize  their  present  advantageous  positions  on 
the  war  map,  whether  by  annexations  or  otherwise,  this  war 
also,  like  that  of  1870,  will  appear  in  the  light  of  a  profitable 


296  Democracy   Today 

Page 

business  adventure.  War  itself  will  indeed  have  become  one 
of  the  greatest  of  national  industries,  with  the  military  caste 
necessarily  in  supreme  political  control.  In  such  an  atmos- 
phere democracy  cannot  develop.  Nor  can  the  triumph  of 
democracy  be  expected  in  Germany  till  the  prestige  of  the  mili- 
tary caste  has  been  destroyed.  The  celebrated  Prof.  Hans 
Delbriick,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  wrote  early  in  1914: 
' '  Anyone  who  has  any  familiarity  at  all  with  our  officers  and 
generals  knows  that  it  would  take  another  Sedan,  inflicted  on 
us  instead  of  by  us,  before  they  would  acquiesce  in  the  con- 
trol of  the  army  by  the  German  Parliament. ' ' 
'*«■  22.  America  no  longer  occupies  a  position  of  charmed  isola- 
tion. In  this  war,  navies  have  transported  great  armies  thou- 
sands of  miles.  The  wireless  has  kept  Germany  informed  almost 
cons':antly  of  developments  in  the  United  States.  German 
submarines  have  appeared  in  our  ports  and  have  sunk  ships 
off  our  coasts.  Already  we  are  within  the  menace.  Let  dis- 
aster come  to  the  British  and  American  navies  and  the  war 
may  be  brought  within  our  borders. 

Today  more  than  ever  before  we  face  the  problem  of  defend- 
ing with  a  real  force  or  with  adequate  guaranties  our  tradi- 
tional policy — the  Monroe  doctrine.  The  facilities  of  the 
entire  Holy  Alliance  in  1823  for  the  violation  of  American 
territory  were  small  as  compared  with  the  power  of  Germany 
alone  today.  If  Germany  emerges  from  this  war  victorious 
and  unreformed,  then  we,  like  France,  Holland,  Belgium,  and 
Switzerland  during  the  past  decades,  must  prepare  indeed  for 
self-defense.  We  must  shoulder  a  burden  of  military  prepared- 
ness in  time  of  peace  such  as  America  has  never  known. 

23.  See  note  20. 

24.  The  terrifying  bitterness  of  the  struggle  between  the 
Imperial  Government  and  the  Social  Democratic  Party  came 
to  light  in  a  speech  by  the  Kaiser  to  the  army  recruits  in 
1891,  in  which  he  referred  to  his  political* opponents  as  "the 
internal  foe, ' '  and  said :  "  .  .  .  It  may  come  to  pass 
that  yon  will  have  to  shoot  down  and  stab  your  own  relations 
and  brothers. ' '    Upon  another  occasion  he  ^aid ;     '  * ,   , 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        297 

fage 

To  me  every  Social  Democrat  is  synonymous  with  an  enemy 
of  the  realm  and  of  the  Fatherland." 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  Socialists  abandoned  their 
opposition  to  the  Government  and  the  Kaiser  announced  that 
there  were  no  longer  any  parties  in  Germany,  "In  time  of 
peace  this  or  that  party  has  attacked  me;  I  forgive  them  now 
with  all  my  heart."  Nevertheless  some  Socialists  who  sub- 
sequently adopted  an  independent  tone  are  now  in  jail.  The 
majority  seem  content  to  be  the  cat's-paw  of  the  military 
authorities  in  working  upon  the  Kussian  Socialists  for  a  sepa- 
rate peace.  The  hollowness  of  the  reconciliation  and  the  Gov- 
ernment's  insincerity  in  permitting  the  use  of  Socialist  peace 
formulas  (see  note  20)  may  be  inferred  from  a  passage  in 
Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  speech  of  July  7,  1917,  in 
•which  he  is  reported  to  have  said  that  it  was  impossible  to 
accept  the  socialist  propositions  in  behalf  of  peace  "because 
they  had  proved  unsuccessful  in  Eussia. " 

Franklin  Knight  Lane  (1864-  — ) 
Franklin  Knight  Lane,  born  1864  in  Prince  Edward 's  Island, 
Canada,  removed  in  childhood  to  California,  where  he  was  edu- 
cated at  the  State  University.  After  a  successful  career  in  the 
law  he  entered  politics  and  became  later  a  member  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  until  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  by  President  Wilson. 

Why  We  Abe  at  War 

'5'-      1.  See  Flag  Day  Address,  Note  4. 

"58.      2.  In  the  Kevolution  and  the  War  of  1812. 

160.  3.  At  the  beginning  of  the  ruthless  submarine  war  by  Grer- 
many  von  Bethmann-HoUweg  explained  that  the  reason  it  had 
not  been  entered  upon  earlier  was  because  Germany  was  not 
ready.  In  other  words,  the  promise  to  respect  international 
law  in  this  matter  made  by  Germany  at  the  time  of  the  Sussex 
case  was  merely  a  dishonest  piece  of  temporizing. 

4.  The  Treaty  guaranteeing  the  neutrality  of  Belgium,  so 
called  by  von  Bethmann-HoUweg  in  a  speech  in  the  Reichstag 
at  the  opening  of  the  war  in  1914. 


298  Democracy  Today 

Page 

5.  For  the  Zimmermann  Note,  see  War  Message,  Note  22. 

6.  In  the  feudal  system  there  was  no  such  thing  as  political 
equality.  The  vassal  was  bound  by  fealty  to  his  lord  and 
forced  to  render  certain  dues  including  war-service.  The  lord 
did  as  he  willed,  the  vassal  had  to  serve  him  and  obey. 

•61.  7.  This  is  the  German  adaptation  of  the  political  maxim  of 
absolutism,  "The  King  can  do  no  wrong."  The  Emperor 
who  tells  his  people  that  he  rules  by  divine  right  alone  and 
not  by  the  will  and  sanction  of  his  people  and  parliament, 
still  acts  on  this  principle  of  irresponsibility. 

8.  On  the  departure  of  the  Oerman  troops  for  China  in  July, 
1900,  the  Emperor  addressed  them  as  follows: 

"If  you  come  to  grips  with  him  (the  enemy)  be  assured 
quarter  will  not  be  given,  no  prisoners  will  be  taken.  Ubb 
your  weapons  in  such  a  way  that  for  a  thousand  years  no 
Chinese  shall  dare  to  look  upon  a  German  askance.  Show  your 
manliness.     .     .     .     Open  the  way  for  Kultur  once  for  all!" 

Elihu  Root   (1845-  — ) 

Elihu  Eoot,  born  1845  in  New  York  State,  and  graduated 
from  Hamilton  College  in  1864,  rose  rapidly  to  recognition  as 
one  of  the  greatest  legal  minds  of  his  day  and  one  of  the  fore- 
most interpreters  of  our  Constitution.  He  filled  with  distin- 
gliished  ability  the  posts  of  Secretary  of  War  under  President 
McKinley  and  Secretary  of  State  under  Roosevelt.  In  1917 
he  was  chosen  by  President  Wilson  as  Head  of  the  American 
Mission  to  Russia. 

The  Duties  of  the  Citizen 

•M.  1.  See  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitution,  Appendix.  Indeed, 
it  will  be  well  for  the  reader  to  read  through  the  Constitution 
in  connection  with  this  address,  made  by  one  of  its  greatest 
interpreters. 

2.  Constitution,  Article  I,  Section  8. 

3.  Constitution,  Article  II,  Section  2. 

•W.  4.  The  Senate  voted  82  to  6  for  war  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, 373  to  50. 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        299 

Page 

'71-  5.  This  philosophy  of  the  Notrecht,  "Necessity  knows  no 
law,"  as  Bethmann-Hollweg  put  it,  has  been  expounded  with 
favor  by  many  of  the  leading  German  authorities  on  Inter- 
national Law.  (See  International  Law  Imperilled,  by  Prof.  E. 
S.  Corwin,  in  the  World  Peril,  Princeton  University  Press, 
1917.) 

<".      6.  The  Tartar  conqueror,  1162-1227. 

174.  7.  Frederick  of  Hohenzollern  came  into  possession  of  Bran- 
denburg by  very  questionable  methods  in  1411,  but  the  real 
power  of  the  house  in  Europe  dates  back  only  to  the  time  of 
the  Great  Elector  who  ruled  from  1640  to  1688.  In  the  latter 
year  the  population  of  Prussia  was  1,500,000. 

8.  Frederick  the  Great,  whose  principles  were  given  by  Mr. 
Eoot  in  the  quotation  on  page  172.  Born  1712,  he  ruled  from 
1740  to  1786  and  laid  the  foundations  both  of  Germany's 
present  power  and  her  present  international  morality. 

'76.  9.  This  characteristically  imperialistic  pronouncement  was 
made  by  the  German  Kaiser  to  an  Englishman  who  reported 
it  to  the  English  statesman,  Joseph  Chamberlain:  "If  I  had 
had  a  larger  fleet  I  would  have  taken  Uncle  Sam  by  the  scrufiE 
of  the  neck."  Probably  the  statement  was  not  made  at  the 
time  of  the  Venezuelan  Dispute;  in  any  case,  the  Emperor  was 
referring  to  the  time  of  our  war  with  Spain  in  1898.  (See 
The  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Hay  by  William  Koscoe  Thayer, 
Boston,  1915.    Vol.  II.,  Page  279.) 

The  Emperor's  conduct  in  the  Venezuelan  Dispute  was 
none  the  less  interesting.  In  1902  Venezuela  owed  Ger- 
many, England,  and  Italy  considerable  sums,  which  she  was 
either  unwilling  or  unable  to  pay.  Germany  and  England 
brdke  off  relations  with  her  and  established  a  "pacific  block- 
ade" of  Venezuelan  ports.  John  Hay,  our  Secretary  of  State, 
protested  and  England  and  Italy  came  to  an  understanding. 
Germany  refused.  She  stated  that  if  she  took  possession  of 
territory,  such  possession  would  be  ' '  temporary. ' '  Such  a  threat 
of  occupation  of  South  American  territory  was  a  serious  chal- 
lenge to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  President  Roosevelt  took 
up  the  challenge.    He  told  Dr.  Holleben,  the  German  Ambassa- 


300  Democracy  Today 

Page 

dor,  that  unless  Germany  consented  to  arbitrate,  Dewey's 
American  squadron  would  in  ten  days  be  given  orders  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  coast  of  Venezuela  and  prevent  any  occupation. 
Eoosevelt  refused  to  argue  the  question.  When  a  week  later, 
Hollebeu  called  upon  the  President,  Roosevelt  inquired  as  he 
■was  leaving  about  Venezuela.  When  HoUeben  said  he  had 
received  no  word,  Eoosevelt  said  he  would  send  Dewey  one 
day  sooner  unless  the  Emperor  agreed  to  arbitrate  within 
forty-eight  hours.  The  Emperor  agreed  to  do  so  the  next  day. 
{See  Life  and  Letters  of  Kay,  Vol.  II,  pp.  288-289.) 

'78.  10.  In  the  Hague  Peace  Conference,  at  which  the  United 
States  was  represented,  the  rights  and  status  of  neutrals  were 
defined. 

What  Democracy  Means 

'84.  1.  Oerman  industries  are  organized  into  combinations  called 
"Kartells"  which  have  some  of  the  characteristics  both  of  our 
pools  and  trusts.  The  government  has  consistently  favored 
these  Kartells  in  their  efforts  at  home  and  also  in  their  efforts 
to  capture  the  foreign  markets  with  subsidies  direct  or  indirect. 
In  many  cases  they  are  given  especially  low  transportation 
rates  over  government  owned  or  controlled  railroad  or  steam- 
ship lines  to  foreign  points,  to  enable  them  to  get  their  goods 
there  more  cheaply  than  their  competitors,  the  government 
accepting  the  loss  in  transportation  charges.  This  leads  to  the 
policy  of  "dumping"  goods  at  points  outside  of  Germany. 
This  process  of  "dumping"  goods  in  the  United  States  and 
selling  them  cheaper  in  one  section  than  another  is  forbidden 
by  our  anti-'trust  legislation.  It  was  the  basis  of  many 
indictments  against  the  now  discredited  methods  of  the  Stand- . 
ard  Oil  Company  of  former  years.  In  fact,  the  German  gov- 
ernment acted  like  a  gigantic  trust  and  inaugurated  a  policy  of 
"Cut-throat"  international  competition.  Plans  for  economic 
domination  after  the  war  are  receiving  much  attention  in 
Germany  at  present.  As  German  traveling  salesmen  will  not  be 
welcome  in  Russia  for  some  years  after  the  war,  it  is  reported 
on  good  authority  that  Russian  prisoners  are  being  utilized 
to  teach  Russian  to  thousands  of  young  women  who  are  to  act  as 


Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes        301 

Page 

agents  for  German  companies  after  peace  is  declared.  The 
German  government  in  1917  voted  a  large  sum  to  German 
ship  owners  on  condition  that  they  build  ships  now.  Since 
the  cost  of  construction  is  greater  now  than  in  peace  times, 
the  government  agrees  to  give  as  rebate  to  the  builders  from 
fifty  to  seventy  percent  of  this  added  cost. 

'85.     2.  Berlin  to  Bagdad  railway.    See  Note  15  Flag  Day  Speech. 

186.  3,  The  Pan-German  movement  has  been  a  force  in  Ger- 
man politics,  for  at  least  two  decades.  It  insisted  upon  a 
greater  army  and  navy,  and  a  policy  of  colonization  and  expan- 
sion directed  toward  world  domination.  It  begins  to  find  its 
reflection  in  the  speeches  of  Wilhelm  II.  about  1896. 

The  designs  of  this  very  important  party  in  Germany  at 
present  are  best  illustrated  in  the  speeches  of  von  Tirpitz,  who 
loudly  insists  upon  annexation  and  indemnities  for  Germany 
both  from  the  East  and  the  West.  They  of  course  plan  to  retain 
Belgium. 

'87-  4.  Colonel  E.  M.  House  was  head  of  the  American  Com- 
mission which  arrived  in  London  early  in  November,  1917,  to 
take  part  in  the  Allied  War  Council  to  be  held  in  Paris  in 
that  month.  The  Commission  included  Admiral  Benson,  Chief 
of  Naval  Operations,  and  General  Bliss,  Chief  of  War  Opera- 
tions, as  well  as  representatives  of  the  various  war  boards. 
In  announcing  the  arrival  of  the  Commission  in  London,  Sec- 
retary of  State  Lansing  was  careful  to  emphasize  that  the 
Paris  conference  was  primarily  a  war  conference  to  bring 
about  more  effective  cooperation  of  the  Allies  against  the 
Central  Powers. 

'9'>  5.  In  the  autumn  of  1917  a  number  of  persons  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  were  seized  by  mobs  and  submitted  to  pun- 
ishment and  indignities  for  supposed  or  real  pacifist  or  Pro- 
German  sentiments.  The  most  striking  case  was  probably  that 
of  the  Eev.  Herbert  Bigelow  who  was  severely  maltreated  and 
beaten  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cincinnati  by  a  body  of  masked 
men. 

6.  President  Wilson  doubtless  had  in  mind  groups  like  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  who  in  1917  caused  dis- 
turbances in  various  labor  centers. 


302  Democracy  Today 

Face 

David  Lloyd  George  (1863 ) 

David  Lloyd  George  was  born,  1863,  in  Manchester,  England, 
of  Welsh  parentage,  and  was  educated  for  the  law.  He  became 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  1905-1908  and  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  1908-1915.  Long  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  liberal 
movement  in  England.  In  1915  he  was  made  Minister  of  Muni- 
tions, in  1916  Secretary  of  State  for  War,  and  then  Premier. 
His  speeches  are  distinguished  by  their  clearness  of  vision  and 
tonic,  optimistic  spirit,  as  well  as  by  their  forceful,  original, 
incisive  manner  of  statement. 

Meaning  of  America's  Entrance  into  the  Wab 

219  1.  See  President  WUson's  War  Message,  April  2,  1917, 

220  2.  Against  Denmark  for  a  portion  of  her  territory,  1864; 
against  Austria,  to  establish  Prussian  supremacy  over  the 
German  States,  1866 ;  against  Prance,  for  Alsace-Lorraine  and  a 
huge  indemnity,   1870. 

3.  The  Kaiser  in  his  speeches  to  his  troops  has  always 
impressed  them  with  the  idea  of  their  invincibility.  In  them 
occur  phrases  such  as:  "The  only  pUlar  on  which  the  Empire 
rested  was  the  army.    So  it  is  today."    (Oct.  18,  1894.) 

4.  Since  the  early  sixties  the  main  interest  of  the  rulers  of 
Germany  has  been  in  the  development  of  the  army,  and  since 
the  nineties,  of  the  army  and  navy. 

221  5.  With  respect  to  the  French  Colonies  in  Africa  Germany's 
course  has  been  that  of  a  swaggering  bully  and  both  in  1905 
and  1911  she  seemed  to  have  brought  France  to  the  verge  of 
war.  On  the  latter  occasion  she  forced  France  to  a  humiliating 
cession  of  African  territory.  That  Germany  did  not  precipitate 
actual  war  was  looked  upon  as  a  regrettable  weakness  by  many 
leaders  of  German  opinion. 

6.  Delcasse,  in  connection  with  the  African  Colonies  question 
(see  note  5),  was  driven  from  his  position  as  French  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  by  the  Germans. 
226      7.  Battle  of  Vimy  Eidge,  April  9,  1917. 


INDEX 


Africa,  158 

Agassiz,  20 

Aid    and    comfort    to    enemies, 
giving,  defined,   274 

Algonquin,  sinking  of  the,  264 

Alien   enemies,   proclamation  re- 
lating to,  205 

Alliances,  entangling.  111 

Allies,  help  from  United  States, 
132 

Alsace-Lorraine : 

Bitterly   opposed   to    Prussian 

government,  293 
Zabern  incident,  the,  293 

America,  example  of,  79 

America  First,  81-89,  259 

American  : 

Constitution,   framers  of,   33 ; 

text  of,  227-246 
History,  fascination  of,  82 
Principles,  defense  of,  125 
Revolution,  memories  of,  81 
Spirit,  meaning  of,  91 
Wealth,  95  ( 

Americanization,  as  regards  im- 
migrants, 97 

Anarchy,  160 

Ancona  case,  the,  271 

Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  158 

Annexations,  Germany's  schemes 
for,  287 

"Anzacs,"  158 

Appropriations  of  public  moneys, 
206 

AraMc,  sinking  of  the,  179,  272 

Arcadia,  22 

Aristotle,  20,  249 

Arras,  battle  of,  226 

Asturias,  sinking  of  the,  263 


Austria-Hungary : 

America  declares  war  against, 

203 
Demands    upon    Serbia,    144, 

291 
Endorses       Germany's       sub- 
marine policy,  137 
Australia,   158 
Autocratic   governments,  not  to 

be  trusted,  134 
Aztec,  sinking  of  the,  264 

Bacon,  Lord,  37 

Balance  of  power,  106,  171,  175, 

260 
Bailli  of  Mirabeau,  44 
Balkan  states : 

Problems    of,    152,    198,    199, 
210 

Ruled     by     German     Princes, 
144 
Banking    system    of    U.    S.    re- 
organized, 66 
Bavarian,     king,     extract     from 

speech  by,  284 
Belgian  relief  ships,  sinking  of, 

263 
Belgium,  invasion  of,   156,  171, 

178 
Berlin  to  Bagdad  Railway,  185, 

288,  292 
Bernhardi,  von,   "mouthpiece  of 

the  Prussian  military  caste," 

274 
Bernstorfif,  Count  von,  dismissed 

by  President  Wilson,  273,  275, 

276 
Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  276 
Bethmann  Hollweg,  fall  of,  280 


303 


304 


Democracy  Today 


Bill  of  Particulars,  64 
Bismarck,  176,  278,  279,  285 
Boers,   the,   25,  250 
Bopp,  consul-general,  conviction 

of,  269 
Bourdaloue,  26,  250 
Boy-Ed,  conspirator,  275 
Brandenburg,  174 
Brest-Litovsk,    parleys    at,    209, 

210 
Britannic,  sinking  of  the,  263 
British  constitution,  27 
Browning,   Robert,  38 
Bundesrat : 

Body    through    which    Kaiser 
controls  Germany,   279 

Composition  of,  279 

Real  power  in  German  parlia- 
ment, the,  279 
Bunker  Hill,  158 

Canada,   158 

Capital   and   labor,   question   of, 

191 
Caribbean,    danger    of    German 

naval  base  in,  176 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  36 
Central   Powers : 

A  single  power,  146 

Signifies     desire     to     discuss 
peace,   102 

Text  of  note  from,  115 
Charles  V,  26 
City  of  Memphis,  sinking  of  the, 

264 
Cleveland,  Grover : 

Message  of  Washington,  The, 
49-58,  256 

Biography  of,  256 
Columbus,   27 
Commercial    Enterprises    of   the 

United   States,  67 
Communism,  meaning  of,  46 
Concert  of  powers,  111 
Congress   of  the   United   States, 

extraordinary  session  of,   126 


Congress  of  Vienna,  The.  201 

Conquest,  not  sought  for  by  the 
United  States,  137 

Constitution,  American,  91,  122, 
164,   253 

Countries  controlled  by  Ger- 
many, 186 

Court  of  review,  56 

Credit,  granting  to  government, 
131 

Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  address  of  Presi- 
dent Wilson  before,  81-89 

Days  of  1776,  71 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
66,   74 

Defense,  national,  demands  of, 
169 

Dekker,    old   dramatist,   32,   252 

Delcass6,  French  minister,  driv- 
en from  office  by  Germans, 
302 

Democracy : 

Commands  of,  101 
"Disease  of,"  24 
Faith  in,  98 
Sacred  mystery  of,  97 
World    to    be   made   safe   for, 
131 

Diplomatic  relations,  severance 
of  between  United  States  and 
Germany,  113,  116 

Dirigibles,  161 

Disloyalty,  repression  of,  139 

Divine  right  of  kings,  180,  298 

"Dollar  diplomacy,"  68 

Dominion,  not  sought  by  United 
States,  137 

Duties  of  the  Citizen,  The,  163- 
181 

Effrontery,  German  official,  277 
States,  134,  135,  142,  160,  269. 
275 

Emancipation  of  the  Jews,  30 


Index 


305 


Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  43 
Enemies  of  the  Government,  205 
Enemy  aliens,  proclamations  re- 
lating to,  205 
England,  acquisition  of  colonies, 

175 
English  blockade,  the,  262 
Entangling  alliances.   111 
Equality  : 

Of  nations,  107 

Of  rights,  107 

Of  territory,  107 
Equipment     of     United     States 

navy,  131 
Equitable  taxation,  131 
Espionage  by  Germany  in  United 

States,  134,  135,  142,  160 
Europe,     racial     and     political 

units  of,  145 

Falaba,  sinking  of  the,  179 
Federal  Reserve  Act,  258 
Feudalism,      making      its      last 

stand,  160 
First  Napoleon,  44 
Flag,  American  : 

Meaning  of,  70 

Of  humanity,  73 
Flag  Day  Address,  141-150 
France : 

Acquisition  of  colonies,  175 

Colonies  of,  in  Africa,  302 

Revolution  in,  44,  253 
Frederick   the   Great,    171,    265, 

266,  280,  285,  299 
Free  governments,  45 
Freedom  : 

Of  life,  107 

Of  the  seas,  109,  112,  114,  127, 
151 
French  Revolution,  44,  253 
Frye,  sinking  of  the,  120 

Genghis  Khan,  172,  299 
George,  Henry,  45,  46,  256 


Germany  : 

Autocracy  in,  261,  280 

Allies  of,  161 

A  natural  foe  to  liberty,  136 

Commercial  position  of,  183 

Conceptions  and  plans,  quota- 
tions showing,  282ff 

Constitution  of,  278 

Criminal  intrigues  of,  in 
United  States,  135,  143, 
149,  179,    187 

Cruisers  of,  in  the  Dardan- 
elles, 294 

Enemy  of  four-fifths  of  the 
world,  152 

Foments  Hindu  plots  on  Pa- 
cific coast,  290 

Incites  plots  in  Mexico  against 
United  States,  136 

Industrial  development  of, 
295 

Insults  and  aggressions  of, 
142 

Irresponsible  government  in, 
138 

Military  statesmen  of,  146 

Mobilization   of  army   of,   278 

Outlines  peace  plans,  146 

Plots  in,  276,  289 

Press  of,  121 

Ruthless  naval  program  of, 
117,  119 

Social  democratic  party  In, 
296,  297 

Socialists  in,  148 

Spies  in  her  Embassy  at 
Washington,  142 

Secret  service,  276 

Strong  peace  party  In,  267 

Submarine  policy  of,  concern- 
ing Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, 119 

United  States  friendship  for 
people  of,  117,  133 

Word  of  present  rulers  of,  not 
to  be  taken,  154 


306 


Democracy  Today 


Gloucester  Castle,  sinking  of  the, 

263 
Gompers,  Samuel,  188,  276 
Government : 

By   consent  of   the   governed, 
107,  112 

Granting  credit  to,  131 
Great  Frederick,  174 
Gulflight,  sinking  of  the,  179 

Hague,    The,    peace    conferences 

at,  170,  268,  291,  300 
Hamburg  to  Persian  Gulf,   con- 
trol  of   desired   by    Germany, 

146 
Healdton,  sinking  of  the,  264 
Henry,  Patrick,  158 
Hertling,  von,  281 
Hindenburg  line,  222 
Hindenburg,   von.   Marshal,  224 
Hohenzollern : 

Hereditary   policy  of,   173 

House  of,  299 

Rulers  of  Europe,  288 
Holland,  acquisition  of  colonies, 

175 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  The,  250 
Hospital  ships  sunk  by  Germany, 

127 
Bousatonic,  sinking  of  the,  120, 

264 
House  and  Senate,  members  of, 

65 
House,  Colonel,  187,  301 
Hudson,    George,    railway    king, 

42,  255 
Humanity,  cause  of,  for  America, 

85,  110 
Hyphenated  Americans,  94 

"Ichabod,"  29 
Igel,  von,  275 
Immigrants,   instruction   of,   93, 

95 
Indemnities,      not      sought      by 

United  States,  137 


Independence  Square,  70 

India  and  Egypt,  Germany  plots 

rebellions  in,  144 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World, 

301 
International  laws  : 

Reasons  for  origin  of,  127 

Reconsideration  of,  109 

Violation  of,  by  Germany,  113, 

119,  128,  159,  160,  171,  175 

International     obligations, 

America's,   103 
Intrigue,     German,     in     United 

States,    135,    143,    149,    179, 

187 

Japan,  142 

Jellaladeen,  Persian  poet,  32 

Kaiser,  the : 

Autocratic  authority  of,  267 
Extracts     from    speeches     of, 
284 

Kings,  divine  right  of,  .180,  289 

"Kultur,"    174,   298 

Lafayette,    Marquis    de    la,^    52, 

158 
Lamh,  Charles,  190 
Lane,  Franklin  K.,  Why  We  Are 

at   War,    156-162,    297;    biog- 
raphy, 297 
Lansing,  Robert,  155,  301 
Laws,  international,  109 
Lazarus  and  Dives,  26,   251 
League  of  Honor,  134,  135 
Lexington,   158 
Liberty  : 

Principles  of,  83 

Statue  of,  83 
Liege,  treaty  torn  to  pieces  at, 

by  Germany,  157 
Limitation  : 

Of  armies,  109 

Of  navies,  109 


Index 


307 


Lloyd  George,  David,  America's 

Entrance   into   the   War,   219- 

226;   biography,  302 
Lincoln  : 

Biograpby  of,  247 

Gettysburg  address,  17,  248 

Preserver  of  republic,  62 

Second  inaugural  address,  274 
Loans,  vast,   not  desirable,   131 
Louis  Napoleon,  42 
Lowell,  James  Russell : 

Address  on  Democracy,  19-48, 
249 

Biography,   248 
Luaitania,   sinking   of   the,   159, 

179,  272,   275 
Luxembourg,  invasion  of,  171 
Lyman  M.  Law,  sinking  of  the, 

120,  264 

"Made  in  Germany,"  184 
Mahomet,  158,  160 
Massachusetts,  state  of,  22,  36, 

249 
Material  resources,  mobilization 

of,  131 
Meaning  of  the  Declaration    of 

Independence,  The,  63-74,  258 
Mediterranean,    Germany's    sub- 
marine policy  concerning,  126 
Mercier,  Cardinal,   158 
Message    of    Washington,    The, 

49-58,  256 
Message  to  Congress,  113-118 
Mexico : 

Disorders     In,     fomented     by 
Germany,  269 

Loss  of  lives  of  foreigners  in, 
69 

Loss  of  property  of  foreigners 

in.  69 

Mexico  and  Japan,  142,  160,  179 

Michaells,    Chancellor,   280,   288 

Middle    Europe,    the    projected, 

292,  293 


Military  Masters  of  Germany  : 
See  their  mistaice,  147 
War  begun  by,  144 

Mines,  laying  of  in  neutral  wa- 
ters, 156 

Misprision    of    treason,    penalty 
for,  273 

Mob  spirit,  191 

Mobilization     of     material     re- 
sources,   131 

Monroe  Doctrine : 

Germany's    feelings     concern- 
ing, 176 
Imperilled   by   Germany,    177, 

178,  296 
Meaning  of.  111,  170 
Note  on,  261 

Supported     by     British     fleet, 
170,  175 

Monroe,  James,  President,  111 

Montesquieu,  26,  250 

National  workshops,  26,  250 
Navagero,  Bernardo,  25 
Naval  program,  Germany's,  117 
Navy,  United  States,  equipment 

of,  131 
Neutrality : 

A  negative  word,  84 

Armed,  122,  129 

Character  of,  114 

No  longer  feasible  in   United 
States,  133 

Violated  by  Germany,  178 
Neutral  nation,  rights  as,  121 
New  Jersey,  woman  suffrage  In, 

88 
New  Zealand,  158 
"Nicky"   and   "Willy,"   czar  and 

kaiser,  281 
Nippold,  Professor,   remarks  on 

jingoism     in     Germany,     285, 

286 
Non-combatants,  rights  of,  125' 


308 


Democracy  Today 


Oath  of  Allegiance : 
Meaning  of,  75 
Quoted,  169 

Objectives  of  America,  194 

Organization     of     material     re- 
sources, 131 

Our    Responsibilities    as    a    Na- 
tion, 59-62 

Paine,  Thomas,  251 

Palermo,  120 

Panama  canal,  the,  176,  258 

Pan-Germans,  186,  187,  287,  288, 

301 
Papen,  von,  269,  275 
Parker,  Theodore,   32,  248,   252 
Peace,  as  outlined  by  Germany, 

146,  148 
Persia,  sinking  of  the,  179 
Peter  the  Great,  269 
"Place  In  the  sun,"  Germany's, 

176,  285 
Plato,  20,  249 
Plots,  German,  276,  289 
Poison  gas,  161 

Poland,  restitution  of,  108,  152 
Polish  language,  use  of  forbidden 

by  Germany,  294 
Pope  Benedict  XV,  151 
Portugal,     acquisition     of     col- 
onies, 175 
Potsdam,  220 
Powers  of  the  world,  America's 

relations  with,  60 
Priestly,  Joseph,  30,  251 
Principle,  American,  84 
Program  of  the   Worlds  Peace, 

209-218 
Proudhon,  26,  250 
Prussia  : 

Constitution  of,  266 

Voters     divided     into     three 
classes,  280 
Prussian    autocracy,    135,    145, 
■  173,  176,  193,  220 


Prussian-Poland,  294 

Public     moneys,     appropriations 

of,  206 
Punitive  damages,  not"  desired  by 

United  States,  154 

Red   Cross    ships    sunk   by   Ger- 
many, 159 
Reichstag : 

How  chosen,  279 

Powers  of,  267 

Resolutions  of  the,  211 

Social  democrats  in,  286 
Request  for  a  Grant  of  Power, 

119-125 
Rights  of  man,  27,  34,  63,  64,  68, 

73,  124,  129,  137,  180 
Rights  of  nations,  137 
Rintelin,  von,  conspirator,  275 
RomanoflE  dynasty,  269 
Roosevelt,  Theodore : 

Biography  of,  257 

Our  Responsibilities  as  a  Na- 
tion, 59-62 
Root,  Elihu,  The  Duties  of  the 

Citizen,    163-181 ;     biography, 

298 
Russia : 

Autocracy  in,  135 

Black     Sea,     ports     of,     bom- 
barded, 295 

Democracy  in,  135 

Scarborough,  attacks  on,  156 
School   of  Citizenship,  The,   90- 

95,  259 
"Scrap  of  paper,"  160 
Second  War  Message,  194-208 
Sedition,  142 
Serajevo,  268,  290 
Serbia : 

Austria's    demands    on,     144, 
291 

Invasion  by  Austria,  171 
Service,    universal    liability    to, 

131 


Index 


309 


Severance    of    diplomatic    rela- 
tions   between    United    States 
and  Germany,  116 
Sherbroolce,  Lord,  44,  255 
Socialism,   meaning  of,    46 
Socialists,  in  Germany,  148,  279 
Spain,    acquisition    of    colonies, 

175 
Spanish  succession,  war  of,  268 
Statue  of  Liberty,  meaning  of, 

83 
Status    of    belligerent    accepted 

by  United  States,  130 
Status  quo  ante  bellum,  151,  152 
Stephana,  sinking  of  the,  273 
Submarine   warfare : 
Austria-Hungary  endorses  Ger- 
many's policy,  137 
Germany's    policy,    113,    121, 
126,  128,  160,  161 
Subsidies,   71 

Supply  and  demand,  law  of,  205 
Sussex,  sinking  of  the,  113,  159, 
179,  262,  272,  273,  297 

Tarnowski,  Count,  137 
Taxation,  special,  131 
Terrorization,  Germany's  system 

of,  161 
Thane  of  Cawdor,  29 
Tirpitz,  von,  268 
Treason,  defined,  273 
Treaty  obligations,  71 
Turco-German  fleet,  the,  295 
Turk,  dark  rule  of  the,  229 
Turkey : 

Armies    drilled    by    Germany, 
146,  288 

Visited   by    German'   emperor, 
288 
Turkish    statesmen    take    their 

orders  from  Berlin,  146 

United  States: 

Armed  forces  of,  addition  to, 
131 


Driven  to  state  of  war,  130 

Friendship  with  German  peo- 
ple, 117,  133,  143 

Gives  help  to  allies,  132 

Purposes  in  war,  213 
Universal    liability    to    service, 

131 
Universal  suffrage,  41 
Unwritten   constitution,   44 

Venezuelan  dispute,  176,  299 
"Verboten,"  157 
Yigilancia,  sinking  of  the,  264 
Vimy  Ridge,  battle  of,  302 

War: 

Begun  by  military  masters  of 

Germany,  144 
For  conquest,  133 
Zone  prescribed  by  Germany, 
116 
War  message,  126-140,  262 
Washington,  George : 

Founder   of  the    republic,   62, 

266 
Speech  on,  49-58 
Welland    Canal,    destruction    of, 

plotted,  275 
Why  We  Are  at  War,  156-162 
Wilson,      Woodrow,      biography, 

257 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  addresses : 
America  First,  81-89 
American    of    Foreign    Birth, 

The,  75-80 
Flag  Day  Address,  141-150 
Meaning    of    the    Declaration 
of    Independence,    The,    63- 
74 
Message  to  Congress,  113-118 
Program  of  the  World's  Peace, 

209-218 
Reply  to  the  Pope,  151-155 
Request  for  a  Grant  of  Power, 
119-125 


310 


Democracy  Today 


School    of    Citizenship,    The, 

90-101 
Second  War  Message,  194-208 
War   Message,   126-140 
What  Democracy  Means,  182- 

193 
World  League  for  Peace,  102- 
112 
Woman  suffrage  in  New  Jersey, 

88,  259 
World  League  for  Peace,  A,  102- 

112,  259 
World    to    be    made    safe    for 
democracy,  137 


Young  Turk  movement,  289 

Zabern    incident,     the    historic, 

293 
Zimmerman,    Alfred,    supervises 

Hindu  plot,  290 
Zimmermann  note,  the,  160,  270, 

298 
Zola,  Monsieur,  24,  249 
Zone,  naval  war,  262 

War,  prescribed  by  Germany, 
116 


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